Who hasn’t gazed longingly at some of Britain’s finest herb gardens – great drifts of lavender, camomile lawns, creeping thyme – and wished they had the skill set and budget to recreate such a fragrant haven?
Turn Everyday Borders Into Fragrant, Wildlife-Friendly Herb Gardens
Well, I’m going to tell you how, with some clever combinations, you can create borders full of herbs, without having to redesign your entire garden. As well as their culinary and therapeutic qualities, herbs make highly decorative and fragrant ornamental plants. They are generally a lot cheaper than traditional border perennials, are undemanding, wildlife-friendly and require minimal watering.
Walking around my garden, visitors are surprised at the number of herbs that I have incorporated into my planting schemes. In amongst the ornamental grasses of my prairie border, you will find bronze fennel, angelica and chives. In my gravel garden, I grow creeping thyme, oregano and marjoram. Tubs of rosemary and sage sit beneath two standard bay trees on my Catio.
From Ancient Egypt to Medieval Physic Gardens
Herbs Were Used for Medicine, Cooking and Fragrance
Some of the earliest recorded herb gardens were planted by the ancient Egyptians, 4000 years ago. The ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as Monastics, created physic gardens to cultivate herbs, primarily for their medicinal qualities, while medieval kitchens used them in cooking.
Herbs like lavender and rosemary were used to scent the air, which must have smelled pretty foul before proper drainage was introduced, centuries later.
Lavender: The Quintessential Fragrant Herb
Familiar aromatic herbs, such as lavender, thyme and oregano, originate from the Mediterranean, so are sun worshippers, thriving in thin, well-drained, dry soil. Let’s start with lavender, possibly the most popular herb of all. Often associated with purity and cleanliness, it was hung over doorways to repel evil spirits and was even thought to help summon the spirits!
If, like me, you have heavy clay soil, lavender will fail to thrive unless you mimic its natural habitat. So, choosing the driest, sunniest spot, dig a large planting hole twice the size of the root ball. Fill the base of the hole with a 2cm layer of gravel. Set the plant in the hole so that the crown is just above ground level. Backfill with a mixture of 50/50 gravel/compost to ensure good drainage. Water well. The other key to a healthy plant is correct pruning. Many are wary of pruning, often just trimming off the flower tips, leaving the plant to grow leggy and woody. To promote bushy growth, after flowering, cut back to roughly 2 cm from where the green stems start; do not cut into the brown, woody stems, as they won’t regrow. British Lavender is hardier than French lavender; my pick of the best is Hidcote, for its deep purple flowers aloft a compact silver bush. Butterflies and bees just love it.
Growing Herbs in Containers, Patios and Small Spaces
Thyme and oregano are two must-have herbs for your garden, patio or balcony. They provide wonderful ground cover, with creeping stems clothed in tiny leaves, ranging from lime green to variegated pink and white. Thyme in particular will grow and spread in the cracks of your pavings and gravel paths and spill over retaining walls. They will grow happily in containers in full sun. Cut them regularly to keep them from getting woody. The women of ancient Greece and Rome are said to have worn thyme to attract lovers, and it was traditionally used in wedding wreaths as a symbol of joy and happiness.
Grow Chives for Continuous Harvest and Flowers
Chives is one of the easiest herbs to grow in borders and containers. The secret is, the more you cut, the bushier it grows. If left to its own devices, it will produce small, bulbous, purple flower heads, which are also edible. And if you thought it reminded you of alliums, that’s because it is, in fact, an allium. In Dutch folklore, planting chives along paths was believed to bring prosperity. In traditional Chinese medicine, garlic chives were believed to act as an aphrodisiac, although somehow, I find that idea counterintuitive!
Chamomile Lawns are Your Low-Maintenance Alternative to Grass
A chamomile lawn is a low-maintenance, eco-friendly alternative to traditional grass. These evergreen carpets thrive in full sun, support pollinators, and emit a fresh apple scent when walked upon. Commonly associated with calming, soothing, and relaxing effects, it comes as no surprise, then, that in folklore, it was used in spells to promote restful sleep.
A Herb for Wet Soil and Shady Spots
For damp areas, why not plant pennyroyal? A member of the mint family, it’s low-growing, creeping habit suppresses weeds and creates effective ground cover. As well as acting as a natural pest repellent, it attracts beneficial insects like bees.
Architectural Herbs for Dramatic Borders
There are several herbs that make striking, architectural statements in your garden. Two giants of the prairie border are angelica and bronze fennel. Whilst angelica is biennial, flowering and then dying in its second year, it self-seeds freely. Known for its dramatic, spherical umbels held aloft architectural stems, it can reach 2 m tall. A truly wildlife-friendly plant, it’s also known for its edible, candied stems. Ranging from white to pale green, often tinged with purple or red, it looks amazing amongst ornamental grasses. Bronze fennel is reliably perennial, grown for its dramatic, smoky-bronze, feathery foliage and strong aniseed flavour, reaching 1.5 m in height.
Edible Flowers and Ornamental Herbs
So many of our favourite flowers are in fact herbs. Take, for example, nasturtiums. A favourite of Claude Monet, he famously planted them along the pathway in front of his house in Giverny, France, and they became a staple of his garden masterpiece.
Learn more about Claude Monet’s Kitchen in Giverny.
I love nasturtiums because of their fiery colours and trailing habit. They are versatile and adaptable, low maintenance and don’t require any deadheading. I just poke their seeds into any empty crevice or bare soil, and off they go. Pull them out at the end of the summer, and chances are they will have set seed to reappear the following year. Leaves and flowers are edible and make a colourful, peppery addition to a salad, whilst the seeds taste of wasabi.
Unexpected Herbs You Should Be Growing
Agastache, veronicastrum, achillea, eryngium, all herbs. Then there’s red orach, Good King Henry, lovage, the list goes on. These wildlife showstoppers will not only add drama to your borders and containers, but they will also fill the air with their fragrance and enhance your culinary skills in the bargain. What’s not to like?
For some of the finest examples of British herb gardens, visit Mount Grace Priory, North Yorkshire, Chelsea Physic Garden, London, and Mottisfont, Hampshire.
The Rose Garden in June at Mottisfont, Hampshire | © National Trust Images/Clive Nichols
