Herb Garden Landscapes

Herbs vary tremendously in color and texture.

Landscaping with herbs can result in anything from the ultra formal knot gardens of European palaces to the seemingly unruly expanses of an apothecary bed. There are kitchen gardens, grey gardens, fragrance gardens, bread gardens, tea gardens and even gardens designed wholly around herbs mentioned in Shakespearean plays. Landscape themes are limited only by the gardener's imagination because herbs, with their various colors, textures, shapes and sizes, offer infinite choice.

Locate the Garden

Most herbs grow best with at least five hours of sun a day. If the main objective of the garden is to grow herbs to use in cookery, then position the garden as close as possible to the kitchen. Unless a very formal garden is desired, avoid too much symmetry in shaping the garden. Gentle curves and rolling contours lend themselves more to exploration than do straight lines and flat landscape.

Place the Plants

Plant perennial herbs first, spacing for their eventual mature size. Annuals such as nasturtium, summer savory, basil or dill can fill between perennials until those plants reach full size. Tradition dictates placing tall plants in the background and small plants in front, but this arrangement has all the appeal of a class photo. Try, instead, to create pockets of interest by varying plant heights into decorative groupings using small shrubs, rocks or hardscapes to separate areas. Dill, parsley and savory can be separated by a terracotta pot filled with rosemary and flanked by marjoram and creeping thyme.

Add Impact

Use plants of one kind and color in masses for breathtaking impression but remember to isolate one or two specimen plants of intriguing shape or hue so that the eye has somewhere to rest between visual bombardments. Two different types of herbs, such as golden oregano and bush basil, undulating around the bed's borders give a much softer, more approachable effect than the common "doily" appearance created when one plant is used all the way around the garden.

Create Interest with Color and Texture

Combine plants with contrasting colors and foliage to add diversity and beauty. The blue green of rue, the silver gray of lavender and the bright green of moss-curled parsley combined with the purple hues of 'Purple Ruffles' basil or the yellow and white striping of lemon thyme all create effective eye candy. The mounded shapes of marjoram and bush basil become perfect for small hedges while sage, winter savory and rosemary with their shrublike habit become ideal accent plants.

References

• Growing Herbs at Home
• Design Gardens