Herbs in the Flower Garden

Although herbs are not grown primarily for their flowers, they have an important place in my garden. I have moved them to the front border because they are not only more convenient for when I need to snip rosemary for a roast chicken recipe, they are beautiful plants in their own right, with interesting foliage in varying shades of gray-green to lime green.

Silver-edged Horehound of the mint family, Marrubium Rotundifolium, with soft woolly leaves edged in white. I haven't tried this in cough drops yet.

Ornamental oregano--of no use in the kitchen and without much scent--the surpassingly beautiful Origanum Kent's Beauty. An enchanting plant of unusual color, with leaves the color of eucalyptus, and these fairy-like tiny lavender blossoms peeking out from between the pale mint-green bracts frosted with pink at the tips.

Regular oregano is easy to grow and spreads wildly.

I have already mentioned the robustness of Melissa Officinalis, the ever-enlarging Lemon Balm. It is best not to see it ever in bloom, in case it goes to seed. Meanwhile, when crushed, the leaves smell wonderfully of . . .  lemon.

Blooming sage plant. Large, velvety leaves make a nice mounded woody-stemmed plant, with these lavender flowers to surprise you in late spring. Sage is an herb flavor that can be easily overdone, since a little goes a long way. 

To the lower right of the picture grows tarragon, a hardy plant with narrow, slippery, yellow-green leaves redolent of licorice, lemon, and basil. It is often used to infuse vinegar. The plant itself has long since shot up, branched out, and made its presence known.

Blue-gray rosemary is an attractive, woody-stemmed plant that may return next spring if it doesn't get much below zero.  The leaves are easy to harvest and dry to add to savory soups and stews and roasts.

One should never let a peppermint plant bloom like this, unless one wants lots and lots of little peppermint plants.

Ahhhh, lavender. One can never have too many of them. Nice looking, large and imposing upright plants with gray-green, felted narrow leaves, with a long blooming season of these spiky blooms. This is the scent that heals and revives. There are many varieties of lavender, with subtle variations in color--mostly whites, pinks, and the purple/lavenders--and variations in scents. One of my plants smells much more definitely of menthol than the others.

Blooming thyme, nestled between the sage and marjoram.. Thyme is one of the freshest and sweetest of scents, and the plants, low growing and well-behaved, are nearly evergreen. They come in a number of irresistible varieties. I cut thyme for cooking well into the winter. 

While sage is also a well-behaved plant, if large when full grown, beware the marjoram when it flowers. It is a major reseeder.

Echinacea is an herb, but more importantly, a gorgeous, if coarse-leaved, flowering plant. A number of them are wonderfully fragrant. Echinacea like plenty of sun, but are not drought resistant, so make sure they do not dry out. This is the Sundown variety, blooming next to a Little Lamb hydrangea.

Ground Covers

Ground covers can include a number of unexpected plants, including flowering gems that spread and spread, plants with variegated foliage, shade plants, sun loving plants, and tight mats of impenetrable green.

Pulmonaria, the lungwort Raspberry Splash. One of the very first to bloom, with these spotted leaves that persist all year after the brightly colored flowers fade. These reliably set seed and spread themselves around under the trees, providing interest wherever they are.

Lamium, another early bloomer, also called by the depressing name of Dead Nettle. These come in many varieties of pink, purple and white, with variegated foliage that spreads rapidly in shady situations, greeting the spring with cheerful spikes of color. 

The chalk-white iberis Candytuft. This is nearly evergreen for me. After the flowers fade in the spring, the dark green foliage fills in nicely between the roses.

Convallaria majalis, the Lily of the Valley,  scents the deep shade garden under the trees in late spring. These form impenetrable ropy-rooted colonies that crowd everything else out, but all is forgiven when they bloom. They do not tolerate sun well at all.

Two intertwined low-hugging plants, the blue-blooming veronica repens--the creeping speedwell, and the pink-edged crawling sedum Tricolor. Sedum loves the sun, while I have had good luck with the creeping speedwell in sun and shade.

I included Lady's Mantle, alchemilla, because it does reseed generously, forming large round-leaved plants throughout the shade garden. The blooms are uninspiring yellow green, but the green mounds of leaves are welcome under the trees.

 The everbearing strawberries have escaped from the raised beds and are invading my filtered shade borders, to the point that they are becoming rather a pest as a ground cover. In spite of the fact that they do produce strawberries. They seem to think they are border flowers and do much better, in fact, than they do in the raised beds.

Periwinkle will grow anywhere there is shade and water, so watch out. This plant has spread and spread, filling in under the trees, providing this dependable blue color in swaths each spring. 

Saponaria, the wandering soapwort. I have given up on this plant, letting it appear, grow, drape across logs and rocks in this amazing way, bloom, and then vanish, only to reappear somewhere else, with a slight variation in the pink color.

Anacyclus of the Aster family. This is Silver Kisses, the little white daisy petals lined with red, complete with ferny foliage. The plant itself doesn't live long, but if encouraged it will reseed. It is very nice at the front of the border.

I planted one plant of the herb Sweet Woodruff, galium odoratum, and now it is growing all around my iris and peonies and tulips in the morning sun. It blooms these tiny white crosses in spring, and the crisp yellow green-foliage romps happily all summer.

 

I love this plant. Cymbalaria, the Ivy-Leaved Toadflax or Kenilworth Ivy. Five round-lobed leaves with these delicate purple-lavender blossoms. Don't be fooled, these plants are quite hardy and put up with a lot. This is one of the best for filling in the soil in pots, since the leaves and flowers hang over the edge so nicely. They also spread here and there, never unwanted or out of control

Of course, white alyssum does wonders for the front of the border, along with verbena, one of my personal favorites for pots. Here, a species-type purple verbena pops up among the sweet alyssum.

One of the worst of the unwanted ground covers--Creeping Jenny. This chartreuse variety is Golden Moneywort "Aurea." Don't plant it unless you want everything surrounded, invaded, and crowded out by chartreuse.

Plants that Reseed

When the conditions are right, plants that set seeds unimpeded can replicate themselves by way of breezes, birds, and the intentional flinging of masses of tiny seeds by bursting seed pods. Many of these plants are welcome, filling in empty spots and forming sturdy plants you can share with fellow gardeners. 

But often such plants make pests of themselves. We set out to deadhead spent flowers before they form seed pods, but it doesn't always happen on time. 

Below, a by-no-means comprehensive list of some of the more beautiful re-seeders in my garden:

The early spring anemone silvestris, which forms a puffy seedball that blows about in the breeze under the shade of the trees until the seeds drop on moist soil and start over again. Accompanying the anemones are violets, another prolific reseeder.

The dog-violet, one of the most aggressive of all reseeders. These will form hardy clumps that are difficult to dislodge from the soil. They will tolerate a lawn mower going over the top of them, which limits the size of the plants. It's kind of nice to have violets in the lawn, if you are not a lawn purist.

Many varieties of columbine will readily reseed themselves. I have found columbines in all parts of the shadier spots in my garden. I usually love them enough to not mind. In the picture above, a compact, upright variety of columbine has reseeded itself among the heuchera and Lady's Mantle.

The pink Missouri primrose may need encouragement if things get too crowded.

 Prairie Mallow pops up everywhere. Sometimes the spot of color is appreciated, sometimes it ends up looking like a wilted rag. Pull up when they are young, for when they are established, you will need a sharp shovel.

I never knew that the whirling butterflies plant, the Gaura, could be such a nuisance. I love these plants, but they are impossible to keep in check. These are impossible to photograph, too. Anything tall and slender with small flowers on a long stem presents a challenge to the photographer.

No one minds more plants like these showing up spontaneously. If you can get Phlox Paniculata to cross-pollinate with neighboring plants, you can have a steady stream of lovely color combinations.

  The herb garden seems especially prone to seeding itself beyond all control. It makes one wonder how the tidy old Victorian herb gardens kept so tidy--no doubt it took constant work by pruning clipper-wielding-servants. Above, the Matricaria chamomile of the Aster family shows up in the strangest places. I love the fluffy little white blooms, but then they dry and turn dirty brown and set seeds, all of them fertile.

This is Melissa Officinalis, the Lemon Balm. This has invaded sunny parts of the yard front and back. Don't let this plant loose, no matter how much you love the lemon scent.

Chives, another innocent looking Master of the Universe. As long as you like the smell of onion, you won't mind letting these papery globes of lilac-pink turn into tiny little black seeds, all of which fly in all directions, and all of which germinate.

Do not, under any circumstances, grow one of the most aggressive and ultimately unwanted of all herbs, (other than Borage or Horseradish, but that is another story,) spearmint or peppermint (not so much the chocolate mint, which is more restrained) in anything but a deep bucket. Even the bucket spills plants over the side, all of which seed and germinate, or the roots grow out of the holes in the bottom. Chocolate mint (Mentha x piperita subspecies citrata) by the way, smells exactly like that. Irresistible. Which is why we keep growing mints.

Flat leaf parsley. This plant looks good all season and covers up bare spots. You can go out with scissors and decimate it regularly. It grows back.

Hardy blue salvia.  Its propensity to spread itself in sunny areas should not have been a surprise to me. Since it is not outrageously aggressive, and since I love the spiky blue over a long bloom season, I often let it stay. I only wish my white salvia would be so generous.

Pastel yarrow, the achillea milllefolium, another plant from the Aster family, is like the blue salvia--fairly tidy all season, giving spots of color where it will blend nicely.

Volunteer goldenrod. Vast potential for reseeding. I haven't gotten tired of these yet. Maybe next year.

White annual alyssum is one of the best established recurring annuals, forming a sprawling, ever-blooming, fragrant and dependable front-of-the-border plant. The lavender blue perennial aster can get rambunctious in the right circumstances, but is easy to pull up, the colors are lovely, the foliage and plant are nice-looking, and everyone wants a piece of it.

Coral & Peach in the Garden

Pink suffused with shades of yellow--what more beautiful color in the garden is there than coral/peach? Entire swaths of my flower border are dedicated to this lovely color. It is warm but not aggressive, accommodating but not feeble. It complements the companion shades of lavenders and violets. Roses and daylilies especially seem to lend their hybridizing talents to corals and peaches.

Peach-pink tulips in the early spring bulb garden

Double coral columbine. These are not very tall, giving more of the impression of small double petalled roses. Surprisingly, these have reseeded for me.

American Peony Society gold medal winner Coral Sunset, an unusual shade in peonies, and an early season bloomer.

Papaver Orientalis, the Oriental poppy Watermelon. True to its name, this poppy is a luscious shade of watermelon pink.

 One of my favorite shrubs, the carnation-scented coral brooches of the viburnum Carlesii, the heavenly Korean Spice Bush. 

The prime rose shrub Easy Does It, with difficult-to-photograph dark coral flowers fading to a round-blossomed reddish orange that blends especially well with blue salvia.

 David Austin's Abraham Darby, studded with these innocently peach but powerfully scented cupped and quartered old-fashioned roses. 

Ruffle-edged peach-pink daylilies. Daylilies were meant to be this color--descendents of the original Hemerocallis Fulva, the tawny orange daylily, and Hemerocallis Flava, the sweet-scented yellow lemon daylily.

Flower Carpet Coral, the non-stop blooming, drought-resistant, low growing single-flowered rose that has earned its place in my sunny border.

Cool Blues

Blues are the shy and retiring flowers of the garden. We may not even see them when the reds and yellows shout for attention. Blues must be sought out to be appreciated. They grow most often in the shade and in the spring, but are a welcome addition wherever they are grown.

Phlox Divaricata, the fragrant and fleeting Wild Blue Phlox, is one of the earliest growers in my garden. It spreads slowly, so I dig up starts and plant them at the front of every border where I can find an empty spot. These grow in shade and sun for me, the shade-blooming ones a little later in the season. After blooming, Wild Blue diminishes until you can hardly see her anymore.

Iris Tectorum, the Japanese roof iris, another early bloomer of low growth, grassy leaves and interesting markings.

The prime perennial Rozanne hardy geranium. There never was a better blue, that blooms as long. I've grown lots of geraniums but none as wonderful as this one.

Bobbing butterflies of blue columbine in the spring garden in the company of a peach-pink pillar rose. Men especially like this plant; they always ask what it is and want it in their gardens.

Blue baptisia, the false indigo with its pretty pea flowers and foliage, blooms alongside a white and green ribbon grass.

Delphiniums are the epitome of the sunny blue border flower. I covet these plants, but they never live very long for me. This specimen is one of the more free-flowering species, less well known than the utterly formal and towering Round Table series. Annual larkspur are of the same family, are much less demanding to grow, seed themselves, and come in this same intense blue.

Ruffled blue Scabiosa with white geranium. Slender, lovely plants that seed themselves readily.

One of the many varieties of veronica in my garden. This one is a ground cover with the four-petaled true blue veronica flower. It often reblooms in the fall. I love all veronicas: the tall and slender speedwell, the mid-size candles of white and pink, and the sprawling repens creepers.

Blue balloon flowers of the campanula family, growing in a pot under the Black Lace elderberry, here in frilly flower. The cool blue color is welcome in the hot summer shade garden.

One of the few blues of the mid- to late summer garden, the agastache Blue Fortune puts on a display that few plants can rival

A tall, sturdy, bushy plant, the poisonous Monkshood aconite is also known as wolf's bane, leopard's bane, women's bane, Devil's Helmet or Blue Rocket. Arresting names for an arresting plant.