MOMENTS IN POT CULTURE: PARSLEY

Words by Jessica Peace

This herb was BIG in the 60’s...

Michael Bond’s ‘The Herbs’ (it’s on youtube, get it watched) gave the 1960’s its stop animation herb garden. Bond used info from ‘Culpeper's Complete Herbal’, written by 17th-century Plant Hero Nicholas Culpeper, to reflect the herb’s botanical qualities in his characters; ‘Parsley’ the Lion tells us, ‘I’m a very friendly Lion called Parsley… but please don’t shout or speak to me too harshly... because I’m not particularly brave…’

‘Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme’, the 1966 album from Simon and Garfunkel, inspired by and including their own take on ‘Scarborough Fair’, a ballad made up on a Middle Age jaunt up to that lovely seaside town. Simon and Garfunkel ask their potential to luva get on with making them a shirt, ‘If she tells me she can't, I'll reply/ Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme/ Let me know that at least she will try/ And then she'll be a true love of mine…