The older I get, the more I purchase plants with multiple uses. If the plant is edible and it adds beauty to the landscape, I put it in my garden. Often such a plant is a culinary herb that doubles as a hardy perennial or shrub in my USDA Zone 7 Virginia garden.
Herbs for Sunny Flower Borders
I have had no trouble growing rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) even though it is marginally hardy (rated to Zone 7 or 8). My ‘Arp’ rosemary stands about three feet tall in full sun and well-drained soil. It puts forth lavender blossoms, which are also edible, in the winter. The cultivar is known for its ability to withstand the cold, but for the best flavor try ‘Shady Acres’ or ‘Tuscan Blue’. Although people think of rosemary as a perennial, the plant can grow to be a large, woody shrub. You can harvest leaves or whole branches all year long. Best of all, they resist both drought and deer.
Sage is another full sun “perennial” that grows woody and shrublike. It’s not as tall as rosemary, but it is hardier (Zone 6) and just as drought and deer resistant. The best flavor comes from Salvia officinalis, which has green foliage. For more color in the garden, I group the species with its cultivars, such as ‘Tricolor’, which bears purple, green and cream foliage; the yellow-and-green-leaved ‘Aurea’; and ‘Purpurascens’, whose foliage starts out purple and matures to deep green. The cultivars are edible, but just not as tasty. I use their leaves as garnish and straight S. officinalis for cooking.
When I need a groundcover, I plant thyme (Thymus) generally hardy to Zone 6. Local nurseries may only sell the English or French type (T. vulgaris), but you can seek out thyme plants with foliage representing all shades of green or variegated in silver or cream. What I like about thyme are the different “flavors” offered by species and cultivars. I have nutmeg, lime, lemon and coconut thymes, and there are many more. Drought and deer resistant, the foliage can be harvested any time and used in cooking, baking, making syrups or garnishing appetizers or soups.
I have noticed more homeowners in my neighborhood growing lavender in their front garden. Lavender blossoms, not the foliage, are used for culinary purposes. For best flavor, Lavendula angustifolia and its cultivars are recommended. I have several growing in the back yard, in full sun with soil I’ve amended to increase drainage, key for lavender’s health. I suspect my neighbors are growing the lavandin type (L. x intermedia), which is longer lasting and easier to grow. Its flowers are also edible, but not as sweet, because they hold a higher concentration of eucalyptus and camphor. Still, they can be used as a garnish or in crafts.
They aren’t an herb, but I can’t skip roses as edible landscape shrubs. Both the petals and the fruit, or hips, can be eaten, but not all are tasty. The best roses in terms of flavor are apothecary, or French, rose (Rosa gallica; Zone 6), rugosa rose (R. rugosa; Zone 2) and damask rose (R. damascene; Zone 5). If you already have roses in your garden—and you are not spraying them for diseases or pests—chew a petal to see how it tastes. Worst case, you can use them as a garnish.
Two sun-loving North American perennials stand out as tea plants, though we think of them more as ornamentals: sweet goldenrod (Solidago odora) and anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), both hardy to Zone 4. Sweet goldenrod produces a rich, spicy scent and yellow flowers in late summer. Anise hyssop has anise-scented foliage and purple summer blossoms during the summer. Both of these species provide tea for you, color for the garden and food for the bees and pollinators.
Herbs for the Shade Garden
People think all herbs require full sun, but there are a few that prefer shade. For low-growing, groundcover types, try sweet woodruff and sweet violet. Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) stands about six inches tall as a mass of whorled foliage. Hardy to Zone 4, it thrives in shady, moist areas and sends up small white flowers in the spring. The leaves and flowers can be used in tea, punches and cordials, but they’re best known for flavoring May wine. The deer are not interested, and divisions taken in spring make pretty container specimens over the summer.
Sweet violet (Viola odorata) is a Zone 5–hardy, spring-blooming perennial groundcover that prefers shade and moist conditions. The blossoms are tasty enough to eat fresh or candied, in syrups or for garnishing.
Bee balm (Monarda didyma) and wild bergamot (M. fistulosa) are summer-flowering perennials hardy to Zone 4. They can tolerate full sun if the soil is moist and well-drained, but they fare better in partial shade. Tea can be made with the leaves, and the edible flowers add color to fruit salad, beverages and desserts. These are native plants that also nourish pollinators, including butterflies and hummingbirds.
Like the monardas, chives (Allium schoenoprasum) could be grown in full sun if they get enough moisture, but I grow mine in part shade. These are hardy perennial plants (Zone 4) that die back in the winter and re-emerge as early as March. Only about a foot tall, chives stay narrow enough to tuck into various tight locations. These are deer-resistant, edible alliums that bloom with edible purple flowers.
Several shade-tolerant shrubs provide garden beauty—plus leaves for making tea. New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus) is an adaptable, spring-blooming deciduous shrub hardy to Zone 4 and native to much of the East Coast. It grows three to four feet tall in part shade or full sun and dry to moderately moist soil. Tea can also be made from spicebush (Lindera benzoin), a Zone 4 shrub reaching about six feet tall. Hailing from swamps and low woods of eastern North America, it too takes full sun or part shade, but it prefers moist soil. It boasts pretty golden foliage in fall; its yellow flowers are tiny, but they are very welcome when they appear in early spring. If you want tea from a shrub with showier flowers, try camellia (Camellia sinensis), hardy to Zone 7. It blooms in pink or white from autumn to early winter.
Pretty Herbs to Grow in Pots
For additional interest in the landscape, consider a signature plant in a decorative container, placed strategically. Try a makrut lime (Citrus hystrix) or bay (Laurus nobilis) as a small tree in a large container. They are only hardy to Zone 9, but when potted these plants can be moved indoors before winter in the colder states and returned outdoors in the spring. Add a pop of summer color by planting edible flowers, such as orange nasturtiums (Tropaelum majus) or yellow signet marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia), as companions in the container.
Some annuals look better in pots. By lifting borage (Borago officinalis) up in a large container, I can better see the faces of its downturned, starry blue flowers. Columnar basil makes great punctuation the grown in a similarly tall and narrow container. Rosemary looks classically elegant pruned into a topiary in a terra-cotta container.
This is only a sample of the edible plants that satisfy the gardener’s eye and the cook’s palate. Consider all of an herb’s attributes at planting time, and you’ll find much potential for its placement.
Image credits: Rosemary by fir0002flagstaffotos/GFDL 1.2; Salvia by Joanna Boisse/CC BY-SA 4.0; Apothecary rose by Dawn Huczek/CC BY 2.0; Anise hyssop by Brian Plunkett/CC BY 2.0; Violet by Dean Morley/CC BY-ND 2.0; Bergamot by Melissa McMasters/CC BY 2.0; New Jersey tea by Andrey Zharkikh/CC BY 2.0
