ORNAMENTAL HERBS

 

June is Perennial Gardening Month and these ornamental perennial herbs can be planted together in the garden, added to specific gardens or mixed in with your landscape in beds, borders or anywhere you want some interesting color or texture.  Herbs are great as cut flowers also.  In addition try adding Calendula, it's an annual, but reseeds each year. The colors are bright and cheerful. They are similar to daisies, and can be direct seeded. Calendulas grow up to 18 inches tall, and will bush out once they really start growing. Keep the plant deadheaded and it will continue to produce bright blooms!

ANISE HYSSOP (Agastache foeniculum) - attractive purple flower spikes that attract butterflies and bees           

            FRAGRANCE, BUTTERFLY GARDEN

BEEBALM (Monardra didyma) - Unusual edible red spidery flowers that attract hummingbirds

            FRAGRANCE, TEA, HUMMINGBIRD GARDEN

CATMINT (Nepeta cataria)– purple flowers, silver foliage, mounding habit for borders and edging                
            GROUND COVER, FRAGRANCE, BORDERS

CHIVES (Allium schoenoprasum)– purple flowers and grassy foliage for borders

            BUTTERFLY GARDEN, EDIBLE FLOWER GARDEN, BORDER

BRONZE FENNEL (Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum') – feathery bronze aromatic foliage

            BIBLE GARDEN, FRAGRANCE GARDEN, DYER’S GARDEN, BUTTERFLY GARDEN

GERMANDER (Teucrium chamaedrys) – Semi-evergreen miniature hedge also known as poor man’s boxwood

            KNOT GARDEN

LADY’S MANTLE (Alchemilla mollis)– Semi-evergreen ground carpet with frothy green flowers and leaves that catch the dew/rain

            GROUNDCOVER, MOONLIGHT GARDEN

LAMB’S EAR (Stachys byzantine) – Silver wooly leaves and tall, purple-flowered spikes

            GROUNDCOVER. HUMMINGBIRD GARDEN

LAVENDER (Lavandula angustifolia)– Classic fragrant purple flowers and great for low hedges, edging for walks, rock gardens, and potted plants

            FRAGRANCE GARDEN, BUTTERFLY GARDEN, BIBLE GARDEN

MEADOWSWEET (Filipendula ulmaria) – Feathery almond scented plumes in summer/fall, long lasting cut flowers for bridal bouquets

            MOONLIGHT GARDEN, CUT FLOWER GARDEN, POTPOURRI GARDEN

MOUNTAIN MINT (Pycnanthemum virginium)– shrub-like native that is an excellent bee plant

            FRAGRANCE GARDEN, BIBLE GARDEN, TEA GARDEN, EVERLASTING GARDEN

OREGANO (Origanum spp) – Purple/Blue flowers on ornamental varieties excellent for dried arrangement

            EVERLASTING GARDEN, DYER’S GARDEN, ROCK GARDEN

RUE (Ruta graveolens)– Lacy blue/green foliage (model for the suit of clubs) and yellow waxy blooms

            BIBLE GARDEN, EVERLASTING GARDEN, MOONLIGHT GARDEN

SAGE (Salvia officinalis) – Grey-green pebbly leaves, pale blue flowers, some with variegated foliage/silvery foliage shrub-like

            HUMMINGBIRD, MOONLIGHT, BIBLE GARDEN

SOAPWORT (Saponaria officinalis) – Delicate pink blossoms on low growing mounds

            GROUNDCOVER

THYME (Thymus vulgaris)– Low growing fragrant foliage that can be walked on

            ROCK GARDEN, PATHS, FRAGRANCE GARDEN

VALERIAN (Valeriana officinalis) – Also known as garden heliotrope – an old-time favorite with white flowers

            BIBLE GARDEN, CUTTING GARDEN

ST. JOHN’S WORT (Hypericum perforatum) – Ground cover with balsam-scented foliage and yellow flowers that turn red when pinched

            GROUNDCOVER, BIBLE GARDEN

YARROW (Achillea millefolium) – Yellow/white button flowers and silvery ferny foliage

            EVERLASTING GARDEN

 

 

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,

the world and all who live in it”

Psalm 24:1