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Herb Gardens

© Kirk Johnson

Like the rose garden, herb gardens are mainly a creation of the 19th Century, when it became fashionable to segregate plants into gardens devoted to single kinds of plants, such as rose gardens and rhododendron gardens. Herb gardens are a rather late development in this trend, they didn't really become fashionable until the early 20th Century. In 1936, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde wrote in her book Herbs and Herb Gardening, "Herbs and herb gardens have become a considerable cult during the last 20 years or so".

One of the reasons for the late development of the herb garden is that herbs had always been grown in kitchen gardens, it was only when herbs were no longer grown in most kitchen gardens that herbs developed an aura of nostalgia. Some people still grow herbs for practical reasons, but these people don't usually create herb gardens. If you are just growing those herbs which you use in cooking, a herb bed or a collection of potted herbs will be quite adequate. If you are growing herbs to dye fabric, you will probably need to grow herbs like vegetables, as a crop which you harvest. The herb garden is a collection of plants, you may use some of them for cooking, but most of them will be grown for nostalgic reasons, because the plant was once used for some purpose other than decoration. Many herb gardens contain plants which were once used for medicine, but no longer are. When gardeners talk about herbs, they mean any plant of which some part of the plant (including blooms, leaves, roots and bark) are used for food, medicine, scent, favouring , or some other purpose, including the making of rope.

Herb gardens are one of the most nostalgic kinds of gardens, and this is reflected in the design of herb gardens, there is very little reason for a herb garden to have a design which isn't traditional. There are two main traditions, formal and informal. The informal, cottage garden tradition is difficult to write about, because most cottage gardens aren't really designed gardens, they are just a collection of plants. The true cottage garden isn't governed by the rules of design, the gardener just tucks a plant into any bare spot. Cottage gardens can be designed artistically, by using contrast and harmony, if you are interested in this approach, you may want to read a series of articles which I wrote, entitled Unity in Garden Design. People often think that an informal cottage garden is easier to design and maintain than a formal garden, but they are mistaken. The cottage garden can be a great work of art, or just a muddle of plants. If you are unsure of your design skills, I advise creating a formal herb garden.