A Doctor's Garden

A Doctor's Garden. . , Dr. C.B. Wilson was one of the first doctors to establish residence and practice medicine in Sarasota. His practice was established in 1906 and he served the community as a doctor until his death in 1941. The late 1800s and early 1900s saw great advancement in medical research, identifying substances and compounds that would change the way illnesses are treated. However, doctors in the early 1900s did not have many synthetic pharmaceutical medicines, relying in large part on herbal concoctions, tinctures, poultices and compounds. Doctors used a specific range of plants from which they made the medicines for treating their patients. Doctors routinely grew many of these plants in their own gardens so that they could create medicines as needed., The Doctor's Garden at the Wilson house is representative of a typical garden from the early 1900s. In addition to plants grown for medicinal use, plants were also grown to produce dyes, food and seasonings and to provide pollen for beehives commonly kept by early settlers. Most of the plants used in the garden are native to south Florida and can be seen growing in our parks and preserves. While no longer used as they were in the 1900s we can still enjoy the beauty and diversity of our native plants today., Ethnobotany is the study of the interactions and relationships between plants and people over time and space.