Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Fragrant star jasmine is in full bloom right now. Plant one in a semi-shaded spot where you can enjoy its lovely perfume.

• Hydrangeas have giant pink or blue flowers. They will brighten the shade garden all summer.

• Remove suckers on rose bushes. These vigorous canes emerge from below the bud union and should be cut off as far down as possible.

• Colorful petunias will brighten up any flower bed. Their purples, pinks and reds make a real splash when planted in groups of the same color.

Herbs in the Landscape

Although many people think that herbs belong on the windowsill or in the vegetable garden, herbs also make fine landscaping plants. Many attractive shrubs and ground covers are herbal plants that can add beauty to the landscape while providing foliage and flowers for herbal uses.

Herbs are generally easy to grow and require less watering and attention than most other plants. Their aromatic oils make them relatively immune to insect attack, and for this same reason, deer usually leave them alone. Their fragrance in the garden is another reason to make use of them.

Some low-growing herbs make good lawn substitutes in small areas and around stepping stones. Chamomile and woolly thyme are very good in sunny areas. They can be mowed occasionally if they get taller than you want. Corsican mint, which forms a moss-like mat, in sun or partial shade emits a very strong, pleasant odor of mint when lightly brushed. It is the mint used to flavor liqueurs.

Creeping thyme, lemon thyme and silver thyme are very drought tolerant and make a mounding mat for full sun. Prostrate rosemary grows about 18 inches tall and is excellent for planting on hillsides and for draping over walls. All types of rosemary can be used for culinary purposes and are very deer resistant.

Lavenders, upright rosemary and sage are all lovely shrubs for dry sunny areas. There are many types of lavenders to choose from that grow between 18 inches and 4 feet tall. Lavender can be used as a foundation plant or to create a hedge and will still provide you with delightfully flavored flowers and leaves.

Upright rosemary can grow to 4 to 6 feet tall and makes a nice clipped hedge. Culinary sage has gray-green leaves. There are also varieties with variegated yellow and green leaves, or silver and purple leaves. They make a small mound, about 2 feet tall.

Santolina, or lavender cotton, is a gray, mounding plant that is useful for borders. Catmint has soft, gray-green foliage and lavender-blue flowers that make a showy display.

Foliage is one of the most interesting aspects of herbs for landscaping. Several members of the artemesia family are particularly striking with their silver or gray leaves. Artemesia ‘Powis Castle’ has finely cut, silver-gray foliage that is fragrant and it makes a fine background plant at 3 feet tall. Germander makes a low mound with small rosy-purple flowers in dense heads.

One of the largest herb plants is the Mediterranean bay laurel, Laurus nobilis. It is an evergreen shrub growing 12 feet tall in a dense, tapering cone. This shrub has the bay leaves used in cooking, and it makes a good screening plant.

Two of the most interesting flowering herbs are bee balm (also called monarda and bergamot) and purple coneflower. Bee balm leaves make a fine tea, and purple coneflower, the familiar echinacea of many herbal remedies, is a long-blooming perennial that can be a great addition to any garden. It is great favorite of monarch butterflies and should be in every butterfly garden.

While most herbs prefer a sunny location, many will do well in part sun or shade. Sweet woodruff — used in potpourris and as a moth deterrent — is an excellent shady area ground cover that cares little about soil conditions.

Whether you want a formal herb garden or a hillside of fragrant herbs, you’ll find herbs to be useful and attractive plants for landscaping.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 5:22 pm and is filed under Garden Article, Willits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.