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Herb Gardens - Page 2

© Kirk Johnson

From a design point of view, formal herb gardens tend to be more successful than informal herb gardens, this is because the simple clarity of the design will unify a collection of herbs. While some herbs are beautiful garden plants, many of them look rather weedy. Informal herb gardens often look like weed patches, a formal design makes it clear that this is an herb garden, that a gardener is tending these plants. A rose garden will be unified by the fact that most roses have similar leaves, herb gardens contain a broad range of plants, the only unifying factor is that these plants were once used for some purpose. The main advantage of formal herb gardens is that the design is very strong, so you can focus on giving each herb a spot where it will grow well, you don't have to worry about having too many colors and textures next to each other.

The modern herb garden is descended from three traditions, the kitchen garden, the apothecary garden and the knot gardens of the late Middle Ages.

The kitchen garden is directly descended from the gardens of ancient Egypt, this tradition survived in Medieval monasteries. In this tradition, the garden usually has a simple formal structure, most often an enclosed square divided into four equal parts by two access paths, at the point where these paths cross, there is often a simple focal point, such as a sundial. In this tradition herbs and vegetables are grown together and fruit trees are often espaliered on the walls, in France this tradition evolved into the potager.

The apothecary garden was devoted to medicinal plants. In this tradition, each kind of herb was given it's own bed, to insure that herbs did not get mixed when they were harvested. This tradition also survived in monasteries and lasted well into the 18th Century.

Many modern herb gardens feature knot gardens, this is actually a separate tradition from utilitarian herb gardens. Knot gardens were usually placed next to the house, so that the pattern could be enjoyed from the upper floors. It is historically correct to include a knot garden in a collection of herbs, Medieval gardens didn't separate ornamental and utilitarian plants. Knot gardens were almost always created using herbs, they are now often created using boxwood, because boxwood is easier to maintain, but boxwood is really characteristic of the later parterres that knot gardens evolved into.

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