Collected Curiosities: Verbena

Step back into the spiral of time and open the apothecary cabinet once more.

Following on from the enchanting journey of The Time Traveller's Herbal, Amanda Edmiston returns with Collected Curiosities, a rich tapestry of folklore, herbal lore, recipes, and personal reflections that bridge history and healing.

We rejoin our herbal time traveller in 1800s Scotland, meeting Lady Lawers on the banks of Loch Tay, whose prophecies about an Ash tree lead us into urgent conversations about nature, sustainability, and cultural memory. From the clearances and the rise of industrialisation to Victorian ghost stories and First World War folklore, this is a journey steeped in mystery, movement, and medicinal magic.

• A Journey Through Time and Plant Lore: Travel from post-Enlightenment Scotland to Edwardian England, following folklore and herbal wisdom through centuries of social and cultural change.
• Folktales, Ghost Stories and Forgotten Remedies: Discover herbal recipes with hazel, cleavers, mugwort, plantain, and more--set against stories of mermaids, soothsayers, and ghostly hedges.
• Creative and Practical: Includes accessible recipes and herbal experiments grounded in historical practices and contemporary awareness of sustainability.
• Rooted in Women's Voices: Meet the wise women, herbalists, and forgotten pioneers, including Florence Marian McNeill and the legendary Granny Smith, Queen of the Gypsies.
• A Legacy of Healing: From cabbage poultices to hop-picking tales, explore the links between past traditions and present wellness trends.

This is a book to be savoured like a slow infusion, connecting the reader not just to plants, but to the people, places, and stories that shaped them.

Open the cabinet, and let the stories and scents of the past guide you forward.