Herb Garden Plants

A Guide to Herb Garden Plants

Like most kinds of plants, herbs have annual (Grows, flowers and dies in one year), biennial (Lives for two years usually with a period of dormancy in the middle) and perennial (Lives for more than two years) varieties. Each of these types is different to the others. People who want to grow herbs need to carefully research the caring, harvesting and usage of herbs from a home herb garden.

This article is designed to explain the different categories of herbs to you and what to do with them after harvesting.

Annual herbs have some challenges that every gardener should be aware of. Basil and cilantro, for example, rarely survive frosts, so if you want to grow these delightful herbs, they need to be planted from seed each year. On the other hand the more hardy perennials such as sage survive the cold easily, returning year after year with little effort from you.

If you favor biennials such as parsley or angelica, these should be sown in late spring. In the first season these herbs will form leaves, these will then be followed by flowers and seeds in the second. These herbs then die. It is recommended that you make the soil as good as possible for their first season to really give them a good chance of survival. This can be done by really working the soil into a fine texture and adding a little water. When planting the seeds, make sure to plant them as shallow as possible with the moist soil firmed on top. Another great tip is to cover the area with wet burlap or paper to keep the soil as moist as possible for germination.

Different Kinds of Herb Garden Plants

We all know that some herbs are better used for potpourri and some for eating. Many people like to divide herbs into categories based on their most common usage. These categories should never be considered absolute as many herbs can belong to all four categories:

The most common categories are:

Most gardeners focus primarily on culinary herbs. These herbs have countless uses in cooking from garnishes up to flavorings. Herbs like chives, thyme and sage have strong flavors so are usually added in small amounts to really give your food a tasty ‘kick.’  Conversely a herb like parsley is mostly used as a garnish, its color making the food look more appealing. Others such as chives are used for both flavoring and garnishing. The Italian herb garden plants are some of the most popular as these are useful in many different cuisines and are easy to grow.

Aromatic herbs such as mint and rosemary are often grown for other reasons. Both of these herbs have fantastic smelling flowers or foliage. Perfumers often extract these smells and use them to make scents. Parts of some aromatic herbs can also be used to add a distinctive scent to clothing. Other kinds of herb can be dried out and made into potpourri, where their scent is preserved for a long time to be combined with others. Lavender and lemon verbena are great for this purpose.

Both the Chinese and the Egyptians have a long history of using herbs medicinally, so much so that Chinese herbs have become an industry of their own. Some of the herbs can have surprising medical benefits, while others are little more than modern snake oils. It is not difficult to tell which is which, however sometimes even Western medicine is a little slow (A potent anti-malarial recently derived from the Artemisia annua herb had been used by the Chinese for hundreds of years). Be warned though that some herbs have defense mechanisms designed to prevent animals from eating them that make them poisonous in large amounts. Research carefully any herbs that you intend to use medicinally and their recommended doses.

The final category is the ornamental herbs. These herbs are so beautiful that often inedible species are grown just to brighten up a garden. The white colored flowers of the medicinal herb valerian makesit a popular choice. Likewise chicory with its fantastic blue flowers would liven up anywhere.

If you can’t decide… that is great too. There are plenty of herbs that have a number of different uses. Mint for example is not only delicious for making a sauce for lamb, but also as a refreshing tea and a handy pest-repellent. Whatever your goal is, spending time understanding what you want to grow herbs for will help you make your garden a huge success.