Joe Hollis & Mountain Gardens
Written and Photographed by Juliet Blankespoor
Joe Hollis and Mountain Gardens just celebrated forty years of partnership. Mountain Gardens is a botanical sanctuary in a small sheltered cove bordered by National Forest and nestled under the massive Black Mountains, including the largest mountain in the East, Mount Mitchell. The sanctuary boasts four acres of medicinal herbs and edible plants from around the world flourishing in countless niches created by terrain, aspect, water, sun, and shade. Joe has been acquiring useful plants for the past four decades by trading with other botanical gardens, gardeners, and seed-saving/sharing organizations. In his estimation, he grows over one thousand species of plants, including the populations of native medicinals and edibles he has encouraged in the adjoining forests. Mountain Gardens is the kind of place where one cannot step off the path without trampling on an incredibly rare plant, such as the only Himalayan ginseng growing in North America.
Joe specializes in Asian and western herbs, perennial vegetables, and native woodland medicinals, such as goldenseal, ginseng, false unicorn root, unicorn root, black and blue cohosh, and angelico. He brought jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) into the country from Japan and has helped to educate other growers about its use and cultivation. The gardens are imbued with Joe’s grace and the loving devotion of those who have tended the plants over the decades.
Joe has taught hundreds of students about herbs at Mountain Gardens and thousands through our Online Herbal Immersion—he’s one of our primary guest instructors. If you’d like to gather up Joe’s rare and essential wisdom, visit his gardens or join us in class.
Personally, I have been deeply moved by Joe Hollis’ gardens over the years and inspired by the abundance possible with a little land, lots of help, and a healthy dose of insight. Joe continues to incorporate new plants into the gardens and develop new sustainable techniques of forest gardening, mushroom culture, and medicinal plant propagation. Every year he takes apprentices in exchange for room and board, creating a legacy of individuals touched by Joe’s experience and wisdom. All of the buildings are off the grid and simply built, which fits in with Joe’s worldview of simple living and integration into existing natural systems.
Joe’s garden, nursery, philosophy, and buildings are eclectic and vibrant. His herbal livelihood is just as creative and diverse: Joe has a nursery, selling potted plants, seeds, and bare root plants. He also sells tinctures and dried herbs directly to folks in an honor-system apothecary open to the public, specialty perennial greens to restaurants, and teaches at the local acupuncture school. His simple living allows him to shape his days as he wishes, instead of focusing on earning money for entertainment and unnecessary goods. One of Joe’s major expenses is his library, which he freely shares with the public.
I feel forever touched by Joe’s quiet wisdom and peaceful gardens, and cannot truly express in words the magnitude of this incredible project. I could easily write two whole books on the gardens and Joe Hollis, but will let my pictures tell a small part of the story. Please make an appointment to see the gardens or visit during one of their workshops or open house events. Mountain Gardens is a rare place on this Earth, a treasure and inspirational resource for all people interested in the future of the planet and humankind.
http://mountaingardensherbs.com/
[shareaholic app=”share_buttons” id_name=”post_above_content”]
Meet The Green Mastermind Behind Blog Castanea:
JULIET BLANKESPOOR is the founder, primary instructor, and Creative Director of the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, an online school serving thousands of students from around the globe. She's a professional plant-human matchmaker and bonafide plant geek, with a degree in botany and over 30 years of experience teaching and writing about herbalism, medicine making, and organic herb cultivation. Juliet’s lifelong captivation with medicinal weeds and herb gardening has birthed many botanical enterprises over the decades, including an herbal nursery and a farm-to-apothecary herbal products business.
These days, she channels her botanical obsession through her writing and photography in her online programs, on her personal blog Castanea, and in her new book, The Healing Garden: Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies. Juliet and her family reside in a home overrun with houseplants and books in Asheville, North Carolina.
Interested in becoming a contributor?
© Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine and chestnutherbs.com, 2011-2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine and chestnutherbs.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Learn more about cultivation, identification, and uses for medicinal herbs in our 1,000-hour Herbal Immersion Program, which is the most comprehensive handcrafted online herbal course out there.
–
–
Kallie Hart says:
How can I apply to be an apprentice with Joe Hollis?
Sarah Sorci says:
You can learn more about apprenticeships with Joe and Mountain Gardens at their website: http://www.mountaingardensherbs.com/apprenticeships
Billy says:
Mountain Gardens is truly a wonderful place. I hope to return one day to maybe finish what I began a couple yrs ago.
Nick says:
Would you know how to get in touch with Joe hollis
Melissa Quercia says:
Joe’s contact information can be found at his website https://www.mountaingardensherbs.com/.
Maisie loo says:
Is there an opportunity to meet Joe Hollis and see his gardens? I am so impressed with his world view.
Juliet Blankespoor says:
Follow the link to the Mountain Gardens website – they are hosting many one day classes and workshops, which would be a wonderful way to meet Joe and see his gardens.
Jacquelyn Howard says:
Thank you so very much for sharing Joe and his beautiful commitment to the world of plants!
Josh Kelly says:
Fantastic story and photo-journalism! Thanks!