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Ginny's rosemary bush after two years.
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A Garden for Your Senses
by Ginny Stibolt
A well-designed herb garden will smell wonderful and look beautiful.
The butterflies attracted to your herbs are a lovely bonus. Fresh-grown
herbs greatly enhance the flavors in your cooking, and if they are
at hand, you'll learn new ways to use them. If I don't have flowers
in my cutting garden, I trim some of my rosemary or lavender branches
to use as a fragrant, green bouquet.
Over the millennia, humans have gathered and grown culinary and
medicinal herbs. Garlic (Allium
sativum)and onions (A.
cepa)have been in cultivation for over 5,000 years. Garlic doesn't
produce seeds and appears to be unknown in the wild. Onion seeds
were found in the Egyptian pyramids. American colonists brought
their indispensable herbs to the New World. Think about how limited
their luggage must have been because of the small size of the boats
back then. The fact that they made room for their essential herbs,
both plants and seeds, for their new homes is noteworthy.
First a little background:
· There are two main definitions of herb: 1) A plant, often
aromatic with essential oils, that is used for culinary, medicinal,
or other purposes such as insect repellant, dye, or cosmetic. 2)
The botanical definition of an herb is a non-woody flowering plant.
Such a plant is described as herbaceous.
· Herb may be pronounced with or without the h sound, but
herbaceous is usually pronounced with the h sound.
· If we use the leaves and soft stems of a plant in some
way, it is an herb. If we use the seed or the woody bark of the
plant, then it's a spice. Dill weed (Anethum
graveolens)is an herb, but the seeds are a spice. Cilantro
(Coriandrum sativum)
is a pungent herb, but its seeds are a spice with their separate
identity, coriander.
Culinary herbs are those aromatic plants used to flavor our foods.
Without them, our food would be bland indeed, but many herbs also
make great additions to our flower gardens. A rosemary bush (Rosemarinus
officinalis) might be just the right plant for a hot, sunny
corner where many typical garden plants would suffer under the Floridian
sun. Creeping thyme (Thymus
vulgaris) makes a good, salt-tolerant groundcover for small
places like between flagstones with the added benefit of releasing
its fragrance as you step on it.
North Florida's climate with its hot summers is similar to the
Mediterranean area. Many of our most beloved herbs are native or
naturalized to this region. If you look at the typical contents
of the "Herbes de Provence," that gourmet herb mixture, you'll find
your favorites: basil (Ocimum
basilicum), thyme, lemon thyme, oregano (Origanum
vulgare), parsley (Petroselinum
crispum), marjoram (Origanum
majorana), summer savory (Satureja hortensis), rosemary,
bay leaf (Laurus nobilis),
lavender buds (Lavandula angustifolia), fennel seeds (Foeniculum
vulgare), sage (Salvia
officinalis), and maybe garlic. This dried mixture may extend
the taste of summer year round, but oh the tang of fresh herbs is
hard to beat.
When we moved to Florida two years ago, I pictured a classic herb
garden or kitchen garden by the back door. This mostly sunny, west
side of the house was a perfect spot for herbs. That first spring
I pulled out the suffering rose bushes that the previous owner had
planted there, bought herb seeds and a rosemary plant, and waited
for my perfect herb garden to develop.
My results were spotty: the rosemary plant and the basil did very
well, but the dill and parsley did not. What I'd failed to consider
is the heat of our summer nights is not conducive to growing the
cooler weather herbs. This year I've finally learned that even though
the seeds are displayed together on the rack, they may need to be
planted at different times here in Florida.
Florida's herb seasons
Be sure to choose heat-loving herbs for your summer garden. Basil,
lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus),
cilantro, and Mexican tarragon (Tagetes
lucida) need the hot weather to thrive. So plant them from
late spring to early fall. Dill, parsley, chervil (Anthriscus
cerefolium), mustard (Brassica
juncea), green onions, and arugula (Eruca
sativa)are better suited to your winter garden and you should
plant them in late fall. Some herbs, such as rosemary, sage, oregano,
thyme, garlic, chives (Allium
schoenoprasum), and lavender, will thrive in Florida throughout
the year, and may be planted at any time.
One way to get a good head start with your herbs is to buy plants
instead of seeds, and a reputable Florida nursery will offer the
plants in their proper seasons. The other big advantage to this
method is that you may shop with your nose. Brush your fingers lightly
over the leaves and put the plant right under your nose. You'll
find that the intensity of the odors varies from one plant to the
next. If the plants are equally healthy with good white roots, purchase
the ones with the most fragrance.
Group the herbs with similar requirements together, both in the
garden and in your containers. Create a pot for a sunny spot with
sage as the focal point surrounded by creeping thyme and a couple
of oregano plants. A pot with a variety of mints will do well in
a shadier location and a richer soil mixture.
An herb garden can be an informal cottage or kitchen garden with
a mixture of flowers and herbs arranged closely together in groupings,
not rows. You may also create a more formal garden with neat rows
and small hedges. Here in Florida you might plant a rosemary hedge
instead of the traditional (and stinking) boxwood (Buxus
sempervirens). This way you can have your hedge and eat
it too. The formal arrangement will require more of your time because
of the clipping and maintenance required to keep it in shape. Either
way, be sure to include stepping stones or mulched pathways so you
have easy access to all areas. As you plant perennials like chives
and sage directly in the ground, think about grouping them where
they won't be in the way when you prepare the soil to plant your
basil and other annuals each season.
To attract butterflies include parsley in your herb garden and
let some of your plants flower. Don't get upset if you find that
you are sharing your herbs with some caterpillars--they are, of
course, going to become beautiful butterflies or moths. Herbs will
recover well from a caterpillar attack, but if there are too many
for you, just pick them off. You never need insecticide for herbs.
Also most herbs don't need extra fertilizer: if they grow too fast
from over-fertilization, they may not develop as much fragrance.
Think about the proximity to your kitchen and to your nose when
arranging your herbs. Various pots artfully arranged on your patio
or deck, hanging baskets, or raised beds will tempt you to rub the
leaves each time you walk by. My three-foot high rosemary bush is
located just outside the back door. More times than not, I just
can't help myself and stroke one of its branches as I round that
corner.
So cater to your senses and start an herb garden this year.
Resources:
· Here's an appealing design for a potted herb garden surrounding
a bench from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden: "Herbes de Provence—An
Elegant, Potted-Garden Design" online at
www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/design/2007sp_provence.html.
· The University of Florida extension agents' site provides
good growing tips for herbs in Florida:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VH020.
· The University of North Carolina extension agents' site
provides a more thorough guideline for the uses and conditions for
planting. When she says plant in early spring, we can plant in the
late fall for a winter herb crop: www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8110.html.
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