The No-Fail Herb Garden: Informal Recipe for Success


Generally I plant things in drifts, which is a fancy term for a relaxed grouping of from three to nine of a single plant variety. So I began around the plinth in the center, and planted drifts of gray leafed plants: artemisias (both Powis Castle and ordinary wormwood), rue, and perovskia (Russian Sage). Then, working outward in drifts rather than orderly rings, I added Berggarten sage and nepeta, then silver edged thymes, dwarf iris, silver santolina and lamb's ear and lychnis coronaria (rose campion). Finally, I planted an approximate edging of low-growing dianthus I had started earlier from seed. These are all gray-foliaged plants providing wonderful textural effects! The planting had pleasing contrasts and rhythms throughout, and the monochromatic color scheme was restful and tasteful.

But eventually I couldn't help myself and so went ahead and broke the rules. I underplanted the bed with little bulbs: iris reticulata and crocus. Then somehow some other things crept in: germander because I wanted to "see how it would do"; green santolina for its wonderful texture; a nameless little variegated specialty plant; some bronze fennel showed up along with assorted heirloom seed poppies from Arkansas and self-sown California poppies from a friend's garden; then I stuck in some English thyme, French tarragon and Greek oregano because I cook with them often and wanted them close to my kitchen door; at some point I added my favorite Asiatic lilies and a few stray gladiolas because "it needed summer color"; next came a daylily (vacation souvenir) because I ran out of room elsewhere; now there are bachelor's buttons, sunflowers, sweet-scented nicotiana and cleome because they came up all by themselves; and oh, did I mention the ornamental cherry tree?

So, yes, I love my gray garden, although it's not really gray at all! It's full of "colorful" collected and passalong plants and I enjoy it. I look at it out the window every day of the year and think of all the people and places.....

If your idea of a proper herb garden is a more formal one, my article next week will feature my favorite "Do as I say and not as I do" version of traditional herb garden design! It's not only fool-proof, it's also gorgeous!

Until then, here are some good practical tips for planning and planting home herb gardens, both formal and informal!