A tribute to herb doyenne Margaret Roberts
PASSION: KNOWN AS THE ‘LAVENDER LADY’, SHE LOVED GARDENING
‘The best way to deal with depression ... is to get out the garden spade.’
She was known as the lavender lady and doyenne of the South African herb world. When news of Margaret Roberts’ unexpected death at the age of 79 filtered through last week, her family not only received calls from all over South Africa, but from throughout the world, from as far afield as Hong Kong, Australia and New York.
Such was the impact of Margaret Roberts’ life that news of her death on Twitter went viral and last Saturday, in a spontaneous response, those attending her memorial service arrived with their arms filled with flowers.
Because the chapel at the Herbal Centre, at de Wildt, was too small, the memorial service was held outside, in the garden and under the trees surrounding the chapel. It couldn’t have been more appropriate, for Roberts was happiest in the gardens.
Roberts had a special brand of magic and it never failed in more than 50 years of talking, writing or broadcasting about herbs. Her ability to inspire people made her a household name and made herb growing one of our most popular gardening pursuits.
In an interview with Margaret 15 years ago, I asked her how it all started and her response was immediate – a passion for plants and gardening from the moment she started making gardens at the age of four, growing up in Pretoria’s Brooklyn suburb.
“Gardening brings healing and hope to despair and disappointment,” she said. “The best way to deal with depression and many of the ailments that afflict us is to get out the garden spade.”
Herbs, obviously, were her greatest passion and an integral part of her life. “Everything,” she told me, “comes from herbs and can be made better by herbs, be it medicinal, lifestyle, even bathing.”
A champion of companion
There was no vision in the beginning. I just needed to grow plants.
Margaret Roberts
planting (the beneficial combination herbs, vegetables, fruit, and flowers) she learnt early, from her Scottish grandmother, and it stood her in good stead as a young wife when she startled the farming community around Rustenburg by layering khakibos under her strawberries.
But the deeper interest in herbs was developed in response to allergies suffered by one of her children. Being “obsessively anxious”, she tried to find out the causes but in those days, it was a lonely quest.
With little herb information available locally, she took courses through the British Herb Society, and later went to England for a course on medicinal herbalism, aided by her professional training as a physiotherapist.
But many of the herbs Roberts learnt about only grew in Europe and, besides mint, herbs were simply not cultivated in South Africa. Indomitable as ever, Roberts started to import herb seed, and corresponded with botanical gardens across the world,
She started to cultivate herbs commercially, making enough money from her farm garden to buy her children’s first pairs of school shoes.
Her first book was published in 1983 and this spawned a massive interest, with talks on radio and columns in magazines like Women’s Value and Garden and Home.
Her fame had its price and with the end of her marriage, Roberts relocated to de Wildt, to a dry, bushy plot of ground with rundown buildings.
That was the inauspicious beginning of the Herbal Centre that today attracts many visitors and runs courses for members of the public, as well as for those in the catering, beauty and holistic health fields.
“There was no vision in the beginning. I just needed to grow plants,” Roberts recalled.
One of her most successful projects was lavender, and two lavenders that carry her stamp are the Margaret Roberts lavender, Lavandula intermedia, and a more recent introduction, Lavandula dentata Elegans. Both are hardy garden survivors.
Perhaps my fondest memory is of her closing words, at a herb talk in Joburg: “Forget about gym and get into the garden – now, this afternoon, GO!”