Savayda Jarone has walked the plant path for thirty years, since a life-altering discovery of herbal medicine in a quaint courtyard in Covent Garden, London. Before plants found her, she had intended to become a language interpreter — little did she know her life’s focus would become the language of plants themselves.

A Nova Scotian, Savayda resides on the rugged Eastern Shore, where she is currently in “gardening school” — learning to build soil on a rocky landscape while creating herbal teaching gardens. She operates a herbal clinic and apothecary in Halifax, also home to her school, the Bloom Institute of Holistic Living & Learning, a hub for herbal and health education in the Maritimes.

Now in her 25th year of clinical practice, Savayda specializes in women’s health, pregnancy and child care, digestion, immune health, stress, and endocrine balance. She is also a Fertility Awareness educator, helping women and couples plan or prevent pregnancy naturally.

Savayda is known for building meaningful relationships between people and plants. Through courses for children and adults, herb walks, workshops, and clinical training practicums, she inspires students of all ages to deepen their connection with local and native medicinal plants. Her enthusiasm and reverence for the plant world are infectious to all who learn alongside her.

A dedicated advocate for the herbal profession, Savayda has been a member of the Canadian Council of Herbalist Associations since its founding in 2005 and a founding member of the Herbalist Association of Nova Scotia since 2002. She is honoured to walk in the footsteps of the herbalists who came before her and is committed to supporting the next generation of practitioners through education, mentorship, and clinical training.

Savayda acknowledges her beginnings as a herbal student in Vancouver, where she attended Dominion Herbal College to complete the four-year Phytotherapy Program from the School of Phytotherapy in England, alongside practical training in medicine-making, Ayurveda, and Haida medicine with Don Ollsin. She owes many thanks to her mentor, Chanchal Cabrera, who gave her the opportunity to learn on the job at Gaia Garden Herbals in Vancouver for five years, in the company of other eminent herbalists.

After thirty years on the plant path, Savayda remains as curious and devoted as the day it began — grateful to the mentors who shaped her, and honoured to now do the same for others.