The botanical garden
Where the monks of Santa María de la Sierra once kept their kitchen garden, now flourishes an ethnobotanical garden of dye plants.
Bog myrtle, indigo, southernwood, bearberry, sumac… ÁBBATTE cultivates around seventy different species of dye plants. It is one of the few ethnobotanical gardens dedicated to natural dyes on this scale, both in Spain and beyond.
Madder is one of the garden’s emblematic plants. Its root yields a rich terracotta red that has been used since ancient times by the Egyptians, Cretans, Greeks, Romans and early Nordic cultures. Castile was once a major supplier of high-quality madder. The trade eventually disappeared, but our project seeks to recover its legacy.
The aim of this unique garden is not to supply dyes for our pieces, as each pigment would require many hectares. Instead, it seeks to reveal and celebrate this rarely known use of plants and, in doing so, help restore their cultural value.
It is no easy mission. Each species must adapt to Segovia’s climate and must offer a viable dye from one of its parts, leaf, root, or flower.
Visits to the garden may be arranged by private appointment.
