Healing greens

From a humble suburban garden, Jessica Holmes has created a sanctuary for growth, relaxation and healing. By Kate Browne.

In an ordinary street in a quiet Sydney suburb lies an extraordinary garden. Behind a simple picket fence statues peek out from the greenery, giant crystals glint in the sun, a summerhouse and bubbling fountain sit in the shadows, and the contented clucking of hens can be heard among hundreds of exotic herbs, flowers, fruit trees and plants.

On any given day this garden may be visited by children, the sick, those who are interested in organic gardening or just folks who want to take some time out from their hectic city life. The day I visit, a Tibetan monk clad in saffron robes is picking his way through the vegie patch and another group has just finished a meditation session. It might all seem a little unusual, but in Jessica Holmes’s medicinal garden the extraordinary quickly becomes the ordinary.

Jessica is based in the Sydney suburb of Wahroonga, and runs a natural therapies practice, Jessica Holmes Clinic, from home treating patients with her skills in naturopathy, homeopathy and as an herbalist. In this she’s not that different to any other natural therapist, but what makes Jessica unique is that her approach to healing extends beyond the four walls of her office. With just about every inch of her suburban quarter-acre block bursting with organic medicinal plants, fruit trees, herbs and flowers, she uses her garden to educate, inspire and even treat her patients.

Jessica says her medicinal garden is unique in Sydney. The petite blonde, a mother of two and a former travel agent, says she’s always had an interest in herbal remedies. But it wasn’t until she visited a homeopath when she was living in Perth that her interest turned into a potential career. Having suffered from chronic pain for years following abdominal surgery Jessica was frustrated to find no relief from the Western medicines she tried. Finally she visited a homeopath on the recommendation of a friend and was thrilled to find his treatments helped clear up the problem. Soon after she started studying natural therapies as a hobby and over the next 10 years the hobby turned serious when she enrolled in an Advanced Diploma of Naturopathy at the Perth Academy of Natural Therapies. In 2002 she graduated and moved back to Sydney, determined to make a full-time career from her passion.

She found the Wahroonga property after a short search – the area had been part of an old dairy farm at the turn of the century, and while the lovely old house was in good condition the garden was nothing special. She bought the place immediately and set out to transform the garden into something spectacular.

As a self-taught gardener, Jessica started by reading masses of books. As her interest in herbal remedies continued to grow, she realised that to truly understand the remedies she wanted to treat her patients with, she needed to be able to grow them herself. “I really felt that to be a true herbalist I had to understand plants. I needed to identify with them and I needed to see how they grew. I wanted to understand how the roots or the leaves or the flowers were part of the medicine,” she says. “I started with ten or twelve herbs at a time, got to understand them, got to know their growing requirements and then I would learn another twelve herbs. It was a very gradual process.”

Now the garden is blooming. Taking a totally natural approach, everything in Jessica’s garden is organic. “If I have pests I can deal with it naturally. With my roses I use garlic sprays and I make sprays out of the wormwood I grow in the garden, which is an anti parasitic. I also companion plant so different plants can benefit each other. If you plant the herb tansy near raspberry it helps to prevent borers in the raspberry. By planting horseradish under the mulberries, they can help each other out, too.”

The garden completed, Jessica opened the doors to her clinic, which has now been operating for more than three years. She believes the garden plays a big part in the healing process for her patients, which is made available to them at any time. Many of them like to sit and relax by the fountains, meditate or even have their consultations out there if the weather is good. And although Jessica doesn’t make all her treatments directly from her own harvest, she believes it’s important for her patients to learn about where their treatments have come from. “The gardens are here for my patients to come in, have a look and learn. If they are taking gingko, hawthorn or raspberry leaves, they can come in and see what they all look like. It’s not just a pill in a bottle.”

The garden has been divided into sections, with areas for native wildflowers, roses, fruit trees, culinary herbs, medicinal herbs and a vegie patch as well as a meditation space, the chicken run and her small shop. The plants are a combination of the everyday, the beautiful, the practical and the rare. “I have plants and trees from Europe, South America, Africa and Asia – just about everywhere,” she says.

Walking past a mass of purple lavender buzzing with bees, we head down to the fruit and nut trees where among the citrus, almond and macadamia trees are some other favourites. “I have ginkgo, which is great for assisting memory, and this black walnut is a fabulous anti-parasitic herb – it’s very useful,” she says. Jessica also points out a chaste tree (Agnus castus), which was traditionally given to monks to help with celibacy, and the mysteriously named golden fruit of the Andes (Solanum quitoense) from Ecuador, which is in season with plump golden orbs hanging from its narrow branches.

Down among the herbs the truly medicinal side of the garden emerges. “This lion’s tail here is a wonderful herb; it can be used to lower blood pressure. I have a red clover, which is a wonderful anti-cancer remedy, and yellow dock is great for acne – it’s very cleansing.” She also grows witch hazel, which can be applied topically as an astringent, and motherwort, which can be taken to assist with menopause. A small lemon verbena plant gives off a fresh citrus scent – Jessica says the leaves can be used to make a delicious tea to treat indigestion. She points out the herb mugwort: “We call it a pharmacy in a bottle,” she notes, and clusters of ginseng, elderberry, ginger and yarrows – all of which are used to treat various ailments.

Visit the garden

Jessica’s Healing Garden is open most Wednesdays from 12-2pm; there are free herbal tea tastings during those times. It is located at 227 Eastern Road, Wahroonga 2076 NSW. For information, call (02) 9943 0171 or visit www.jessicaholmes.com.au.

 

Words: Kate Browne. Photography: Scott Hawkins. Hair & make-up: Yolanda Lukowski.