The Celebrity Herborist of Antwerp - Gardenista
Why should we draw distinctions between herbs and weeds, if both contain vitamins and both are delicious? He tends a a small nursery about 20 minutes away from Antwerp, where he champions long-forgotten and lost varieties of edible plants. Photographs by Bart Kiggen. The wild herbs and unusual varieties of vegetables that Belmans grows at his Saguisorba nursery are on the wishlist of many of Antwerp’s top chefs. “A few years ago, this was a horse meadow,” says Belmans, whose crops now include rainbow chard. “Previous to the time of the potatoes, there were more nutritious tubers, like wild chestnuts, sugar carrots and there was a vast knowledge of medicinal plants. But this knowledge got lost,” says Belmans. All vegetables are allowed to bloom–that is, to go to seed–in Belmans’ gardens. Inside Belmans’ greenhouse, strawberry plants grow in hanging pots. From late November to mid February, Belmans closes the gardens. “We apply little mechanization in the sense that we recycle what others throw away,” says Belmans, who works with business partner Piet De Bolle. All plants have a story, says Belmans. “We love to get plants out of context and let them grow,” says Belmans. Belmans’ gardens grow on the site of a former horse meadow.