A visit to Nature’s Rainbow dye gardens

As we are at the start of growing a dye garden on the roof at CSM, going to visit more established dye gardens seems a good idea. So, when the opportunity arises, we take on a short train journey from King’s cross to Hitchin, to talk to Susan Dye and Ashley Walker about their dye gardens.

Susan and Ashley’s main dye garden is situated on a plot composed of chalky soil within others secluded allotments, few minutes walk from their home.

We are mid May, not yet in the full bloom season to appreciate the spectrum of colours that will come in the summer.

Yet, as we enter the garden, the first plant that ‘jumps’ in front of us is the cluster of woads standing high with its explosion of yellow flowers and in contrast the tiny blue flowers of forget-me-not on the ground liked by the bees.

The garden is well structured with a clear path to circulate around the different beds, a small green house overlooking the plot and a ‘Nature’s rainbow’ bench. The garden feels sheltered from the wind and open to receive the sun.

Susan and Ashley take us on a tour, through the diversity of the plants they grow. It is fascinating to listen to them talk about the specific dyes plants, learn about their origins, their latin names, what colour they yield whether it comes from their flowers, leaves or roots. They also mention the complexity or dilemma of where, how and when to grow them as well as the best time to harvest them. The factors such as the weather, light and rain, heat and frost, the soil whether it is more alkaline or acidic, will all have an influence on how the dye plants will grow, behave and sometimes survive.

In their blog https://www.naturesrainbow.co.uk/ they share their knowledge and experiments, and lots of informations about the dye plants. Seeds can be purchased in their online shop.

In the following link https://journalwsd.org.uk/article/the-dye-plant-garden they further describe their dye garden with advice and tips on how to grow a dye garden for novices.

Susan Dye and Ashley Walker, Nature’s Rainbow, Hitchin.

There are some favourite dye plants because of the colour they yield, their lightfastness and how easy they grow in the U.K climate: Woad for blue rather than Japanese Indigo, Madder roots for pink/orange/red and Weld for yellow.

Woad for blue

The European woad is fairly straightforward to grow and happily self seeds. It is in its first year, as a rosette that the leaves will yield the most pigment. Also best to harvest after a spell of warm weather for strongest hue. In its second year the woad can grow fairly tall before it flowers.

Its cousin, the Chinese Woad is a more complex character and trickier to grow in the U.K. As Ashley mentioned ‘it flowers too quickly. In Chinese culture, this is appreciated for its medicinal virtues rather than its dyeing quality’.

European Woad ( Isatis tinctoria)- blue from the leaves
Chinese woad ( Isatis Indigotica)- blue
Dyers Chamomile- yellow dye from the daisy type yellow flowers
Saw wort ( Serratula tinctoria)- yellow dye. Slow growing, pretty purple flowers that attract bees.
Weld ( Reseda luteola)- yellow from the main plant ( not the roots)

Weld for yellow

Yellow pigments can be found in many dye plants such as Dyers Chamomile, Saw wort and Coreopsis flowers . Weld also called Dyer’s Rocket grows well in the U.K, doesn’t like to be moved and prefers chalky, disturbed terrain. In its second year it can reach 2m height and can look very stunning. Its yellow pigment is one of the most resistant to light. Weld doesn’t need to be used as soon as harvested and can be dried for later use.

Wild Madder- native to the U.K, brittle and sticky leaves. Evergreen. Roots not as strong as common Madder.

Madder for Red

A further walk from the first garden bring us to Susan and Ashley’s second allotment. This is where live most of the Madder and some of the Woad. The Madder can be especially invasive if left unattended and will happily trespass on some on the neighbouring allotments.

It is in the roots of the Madder that we find the red pigment. It takes a minimum of 2-3 years before the Madder roots can be dug up, its roots growing thick to produce best result of colour.

Common Madder ( Rubia tinctorum) at the front and woad at the back.
Ashley digging the madder roots.
Bright orange colour shows in the madder root.

As excavationist with a shovel we dig deep enough to grasp the roots and pull them apart from the soil. When opened in half, the root shows a bright orange matter, the source of the red dye.

Unlike the woad whose leaves need to be used fresh in order to extract the pigment, the red from the Madder roots can be extracted anytime. And so, lucky we are to leave Hitchin with a treasure of Madder roots to experiment with at a later time.

Many Thanks to Susan and Ashley for this very special visit.