Choose herbs with attractive foliage and or flowers. These will complement your bedding plants.
The most suitable herbs are ones with interesting textures or colors. Perilla is a good example. The red variety is especially colorful. Its deep purple, scalloped foliage is a real asset to the garden. Perilla is very easy to start from seed, and it will self-sow.
To add architectural interest plant fennel in the back of flowerbeds. Strictly speaking fennel is a perennial. But this fast growing herb, which can be seven feet tall, often blooms the first year when it's started from seed. Its feathery leaves add a wonderful soft texture to the garden.
Renee's Garden offers seeds of Smokey Bronze fennel, a variety with copper-bronze foliage. This one is especially ornamental. The seeds and leaves can be used for flavoring. Renee's seeds should be available at local garden centers, mail order, and online sources.
Lavender Lady, a very special variety of lavender, was an All-America Selections (AAS) winner. When the seeds are planted early indoors Lavender Lady will bloom the first year. Even when it isn't flowering, the fragrant, gray-green foliage is a delightful addition to a flowerbed.
Basil is probably the most popular culinary herb. It is Herb of the Year for 2003. So expect to hear a lot about it this year. Quite a few basils are particularly ornamental.
For starters there's Purple Ruffles with lovely textured foliage. A green version of this is also available. Thompson & Morgan has The Spiceboys Basil Collection with Purple Delight and cinnamon basil. The latter has gorgeous violet stems and lavender blooms. Its leaves are the largest of all the purple varieties. The lavender blooms provide color in annual flowerbeds.
Siam Queen basil, another AAS winner, has striking dark purple stems and pink-violet blooms.
For spectacular blooms throughout the season grow nasturtiums with your annuals. This herb is so easy to grow from seeds. Sometimes they don't transplant well. So you might want to direct sow them. So many kinds of nasturtiums are available. For 2003 Renee's has added Alaska Mix with variegated green and creamy striped foliage. The compact plants have a mounding growth habit and brightly colored flowers in assorted colors.
