Farmer's Market

Cultivating cures

With her husband, Maryon Marsh grows more than 150 varieties of herbs on a 3-acre farm.

By JANET ZINK
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 31, 2003

BRANDON -- Maryon Marsh has crowned herself the Herb Queen, but she's no despot.

The thousands of subjects in her queendom thrive happily under her benevolent rule.

Marsh and her husband, Mel, reign over the Misting Shed, a 3-acre farm where they grow more than 150 varieties of herbs.

Among those 150 are what Maryon Marsh calls the big six: basil, thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley and dill.

But what Marsh believes distinguishes her from other herb growers is her large selection of sometimes unusual and medicinal herbs.

There's St. John's wort, which Marsh calls "nature's Prozac"; valerian, from which Valium is derived; echinacea, an immune system booster; feverfew, used in traditional medicine to curb migraine headaches; and toothache plants, whose leaves have a mild pain relieving effect.

Marsh's collection of rare plants includes black peppercorns, edible ginger, and vetiveria, a grass whose roots can grow 6 feet deep. These prevent soil erosion, she said.

Marsh, who holds a horticultural professional certification from the Florida Nurseryman and Growers Associations, sells her plants wholesale to retail outlets and landscapers.

She hosts garden clubs on her property offering tours of the nursery and lectures on such topics as growing herbs at home, cooking with herbs and preparing herb-infused oils. And many herb enthusiasts visit her booth at local plant shows, such as those at the USF Botanical Gardens and the GreenFest at the University of Tampa.

"There are people who have been following us around for 12 or 13 years," she said.

Marsh cultivates her plants without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. To keep bugs away, she uses soap or releases thousands of ladybugs in the nursery.

"They eat any soft-bodied insect," she said of the tiny red-bodied bugs. "Their nymphs, their babies, are even more ferocious than the mommies and daddies."

Marsh said she stumbled into the herb-growing business. Twenty years ago, she was a self-described "bored housewife" whose husband was on active duty in the Air Force. She started working in a nursery to fill her time.

The herbs captured her imagination, and six months before her husband retired from the military, he joined forces with Maryon to open the Misting Shed.

"They have a spirit," Maryon said of the herbs. "And they have power. The power of healing. Before there were pharmaceutical companies, where did the medicine come from? It came from herbs," she said.

That healing power, though, is not necessarily derived from specific properties contained in the plants' leaves.

"You might be in a real snit. And if you go and touch and feel the herbs and the different fragrances and textures and flavors you know, you know there has to be a God. Because they're such a diverse and wonderful group of plants," Marsh said. "I love them. I love talking about them."