Dye Plants in the Schacht Gardens

May 7, 2020

by Carrie Miller

Our employee garden plots are one of the many perks at Schacht and we are so excited that it is finally planting season. Each spring, several of us dig in and prepare our soil for a long, hot, and hopefully fruitful summer.

Freshly transplanted marigolds in the garden.

Dye plants are a great option for any home garden. A large variety of dye plants can harvested in ditches or fields. Several years ago, when I lived in Minnesota, I stop my car along country roads and gather plants from the ditches. Armloads of tansy, goldenrod, and yarrow, were carted back to my house and hung to dry. After several months of this, my roommate revealed that her sniffles were the result of the plants that were hanging over our heads in the living room. I learned to preserve my plants in less obtrusive ways, and eventually came to realize that growing my dye plants was much more efficient.

Stringing marigolds for Day of the Dead.

Last year was my first attempt at growing dye plants in the garden so I started small. The very familiar and oh-so-easy to grow marigold was my testing plant. After harvesting these marigolds, my daughter and I strung them together in celebration of Day of Dead. This celebratory decoration doubled as an excellent preservation method. Once the marigolds were dry, I stored them in a mason jar. This year I have planted marigolds again, along with indigo seeds from my friend Judy. I call her, Judy with the Blue Hair because she dyes her own hair with indigo. I’m looking forward to following the processing methods of Rowland Ricketts and John Marshall as I grow and harvest my indigo!

Here in Boulder, we’re only an hour away from the Chatfield Farms Janice Ford Memorial Dye Garden. If they re-open later in the year, I’m looking forward to visiting and researching what dye plants I might try in my garden next year.

Carrie Miller is a textile artist living on the Front Range of Colorado. Her working process and material curiosity are the products of an untamed childhood. Growing up on a farm, Carrie was constantly exposed to new life, death and whatever could be accomplished in between.  Her time was split between adventures in horseback riding, backwoods archaeology, and whole days hunkered down behind her sewing machine.  The rhythm of this lifestyle is the source of Carrie’s enthusiasm for the challenge to find and make tools, learn new techniques and manifest a plan.

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