The medicinal garden of the Royal College of Physicians contains nearly 1,000 different plants that are used, or have been used, in medicine during the past two millennia, and ones that commemorate physicians.

This journal sets out some of the plants, as they flower, week by week, through the seasons, with a commentary on their uses, past and present, with space for your diary notes through the year.

The RCP garden is not a garden set out to be merely decorative; its fascination lies in its plants, in their uses and their dangers, the history and the folklore surrounding them, and even in their names and the influence they have had on the English language.