From The Herb Garden: Sunny Gardens
(Page 3 of 5)
June/July 1993
By Frances Bardswell
In the matter of when to plant, I should like to add that, in spite of what the books say, and in defiance of all the grammars of gardening, no one need be afraid of planting anything at any time, if only sufficient care is taken. I have done the rashest things myself with perfect success. For instance, you see some plant you covet very much in a neighbor’s garden. “‘I will send you a root of that in the autumn—no use moving it now.” This is what is said to you as a small sprig of it is handed over just to look at. “Take care of that little bit and plant it,” is our advice. Ten to one, a morsel of root is clinging to it; anyway, most likely it will grow. In this way, we have secured many treasures. This is how I got my precious plant of pure white thyme, that survived a week of hotel life in London, and was given me (the tiniest scrap of it) at Midsummer, while the plant was in full bloom.
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Flowers in the Herb Garden
One cannot easily forget lovely borders [of herbs], the unassuming charm of their soft coloring, the dainty sweetness of their scent. Over them, in the warm summer sunshine, brown bees drowsily hum, and silken wings from flower to flower flutter—from pink to white, and then to pink again. Those who wish to have colors in their borders may be glad of the following list of plants that generally have a ticket of admittance to the herb garden. Every one of them is good for smell or cure as well as for ornament. Among them are hyssop, bergamot, and sweet woodruff. Besides these herbs with gay flowers, we can look to the culinary herbs for the brightness of catmint.
Hyssop is a handsome evergreen shrub with purple-blue or mauve flowers, which, if not exactly gay, are lively-looking enough to have a footing in some flower gardens. Along with catmint, hyssop makes a charming border, their soft indistinct blues going well together. It was Miss Jekyll, I think, who first introduced catmint and hyssop into our flower gardens. There is one garden of her designing I know very well where two broad beds on either side of a broad gravel walk are planted entirely with these two herbs, whose gentle hues blend admirably. At the back of the borders, bushes of rosemary and lavender are planted; a gray stone wall and comfortable wooden bench complete the scene, which is full of repose and good for heart and eyes. The flowers [of hyssop], like those of the catmint, go on blooming all the summer through, which makes the plants an ornament from June to October.
Bergamot provides flowers of crimson and makes a lovely patch of color in any garden. An old-fashioned name for the plant, bee balm, is enough to prejudice anyone in its favor.
Sweet woodruff, with its dainty little white flowers and clustering foliage of bright green, is a plant more often seen in cottage gardens than the gardens of the rich. People never seem to know where to put it. In the flower garden, it is a little weedy; in the rock garden, it is almost too quick a spreader; but let the pretty creature have its way somewhere, and no one will begrudge the room it takes.
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