Yes, I certainly use herbs. This spring I planted thyme, parsley, chives, and basil. I have been very pleased with what they have done for my garden!

Think real hard before using lemon balm. I am still trying to get it out of flower beds! It self seeds like crazy and will end up every where.....at least in my zone 6 garden.

Just when I think I have it gone....it shows up again. It is a nice plant but not in the middle of flower beds!

I am planning to plant dill among the iris next year. It think that might work well to sort of hide them and yet not overpower them....I can just pull at the end of the season.

I have lots of lavender and basil, especially the Siam Queen which makes a very pretty flowering plant. I also use garden sage with iris. Then, of course, bronze fennel for the caterpillars.

I think herbs are a wonderful, fragrant addition to any garden. Right now, I have chives and garlic chives, lavender, bee balm, and chamomile. I have lemon balm in a side bed where it can run wild if it wants to. My advice is just be careful what herbs you choose to plant because some can take over...fast! I planted a tiny chocolate mint in my main flower bed this summer and in 2 months it had shoots everywhere and I knew I had to pull it. I replanted it at the edge of my lot where it can do what it wants.

Oh, I forgot about warning about all mints. It took me two or three years to get rid of the chocolate mint. Orgegano, I forget which kind, got out of hand too.

It's good to know about the lemon balm. I didn't know it self seeds.

Has anyone had problem with the bee balm taking over? I want to get some from my Mom (she tried it for the first time this year). It's really tall with red and purple flowers. Very pretty, but has to be staked.

Siam Queen basil sounds nice. I've heard parsley can be very decorative too. I plan to put some in my vegetable garden next year. It will never qualify as a "potager" but I'm trying to find ways to spruce it up a bit :)

Bee balm should be well-behaved in your zone. It spreads too much down here for my taste and the bloom period is too short. I started pulling it out a couple years ago, but I still find new growth.

I have herbs everywhere.
Low creeping oreganoes and thymes are my groundcovers for full sun, flowering orgeganoes are there to be pretty, all my edibles are in a raised herb bed (for the most part) and I keep the lemon balm there, in full sun, and it's never moved!

There is lavender dotting all over, loads of roses around (mostly climbing). Lots of rosemaries, silver germander, creeping germander.... most of my front garden is all herbs!

Sure I do. I use the regular thyme to create hedges, I've used germander in the same way. The curly parsley has the same effect. I have used lavender, dill, thai basil, sages, rosemary, oregano, creeping thyme. I love using garlic chives which produce blue violet blooms. Also other types of herbs I've used, like chamomile, calendula. I did have the perennial beebalm but I took them out after they got too mildewy for me.

I grow the mints in a container in the cottage garden (in the front yard fenced area). I'm still trying to get rid of the oregano that I planted in the ground (also put new oregano in the container garden). I have lavender, thyme and rosemary in the cottage garden planted in the ground. I'm starting an herb garden area on a dry slope outside the cottage garden (outside the fence) and have planted oregano, thyme, lavender, sage and rosemary there.

Cameron

Yup, gldno, I was heading down the same path with my chocolate mint, but I managed to get all the underground shoots out by very carefully pulling them up like a long, buried rope! I forgot to mention I have some peppermint growing, too, but I also planted that outside the garden where it can spread.
Bee balm is not an aggressive spreader for me. In the colder zones it usually just forms a nice-sized clump, so you should be fine, lavender_lass.

I do too. Parsley has seeded all over the veggie garden, and part of the perennial garden. I don't mind, it is a pretty filler. Same goes with the dill. I several types of mint, spearmint, 'ginger' mint, and pineapple mint. The Pineapple Mint (Mentha suaveolens 'Variegata') is really beautiful. It doesn't spred quite as fast as the others.

Plants in the Garlic family, like chives, keep bugs away. So I planted my chives by my roses. The purple flowering chives bloom about the same time as the KO roses, which is a nice combo.

I agree with what the others said about lemon balm and oregano. I am still trying to get rid of them. i know there are many cultivars of Oregano out there. You could check to see if there are any sterile (don't produce seed) ones. There are some used just for ornamental value, like O. libanoticum, 'Kent Beauty', and 'Amethyst Falls'. Some sites say these can be used for culinary purposes. I have never tried myself.

I have several types of thyme, including lemon. Wonderful groundcovers too. And I LOVE sages (Salvia officinalis). Perfectly hardy in z4. I have the plain speices and a gold variegated cultivar. They are very easy to start from cuttings.
CMK

Probably some future owner of our house will curse my name. I've been trying for going on 9 years now to fill a bed along the west of our house that is dry and shaded. So, this year I've been making use of mints, lily of the valley, bishop's weed, valerian, lemonbalm, gooseneck loosestrife, etc. Anything that spreads like crazy and can survive the occasional hen.

The previous homeowner planted a large heavy duty plastic container of lemonbalm out back with a hole cut in the bottom. When I finally managed to dig it up, I was really surprised by the way the lemonbalm had burst the container. That one clump is the parent of all the lemonbalm around my house. It grows in the shade and puts up with both flooding and drought. It makes a pretty low growing temporary "hedge" along the north side of the house, around our porch. Guests always ask what it is, passers-by ask where the aroma of lemons is coming from (granted that's because I'm usually yanking clumps out of the paths). Bees love it, hens avoid it (mostly). It adds a light flavor to herbal teas and scent to drawer sachets. So, it's invasive as all get out, but it's not outrageously hard to get rid of. At least here.

I'm instant death to potted plants, so I've never had any luck with overwintering lemon verbena. It's a great plant to have though.

I did just cut down my last pelargonium/scented geranium. They can be overwintered indoors too, but again...instant death. Have you tried them? Lemon- or rose-scented ones smell great and the leaves can be used to flavor drinks or baked goods. I'm drying some in sugar now to use for scones later.

kent

-Kent, Pelargoniums are SO easy to start by cuttings. Take a cutting of new growth, about six inches, strip off the bottom most leaves and stick in a jar of water. You can leave them in the water for several months. Then just pot them up. By then it will only be a couple of month until you can put them outside in spring. ;-)

I have a huge scented geranium in a terra cotta that I need to whack back and bring inside today. I am not sure what the scent is. A freind says 'rose', but to me it smells like tartar sauce, heavy on the dill, lol!
CMK

I keep adding more herbs to my garden every year, chives in particular. I didn't know there were so many different kinds of chives, so far I have 5 different beside the white and purple garlic chives. I think one of them is classed as non- dormant with some winter protection and one, Allium carinatum 'Keeled Garlic' an ornamental can be used for chives in the winter as it is also non dormant.

Thyme is a must for me I use so much, I have a number of plants of the plain old winter thyme and one or two plants of silver thyme. These two I use for cooking, the other thyme I have mostly creeping thyme are planted to spill over a rock wall.

Next year I hope to plant a row of parsley one or two plants wouldn't be enough, I use a lot.

I've planted Fennel hoping to attract butterflies but so far that hasn't worked and just bought Greek Oregano for the umpteen time, it keeps dying on me.

'Arp' Rosemary is really hardy here it came through the unusually harsh winter we had with flying colors.

I grow spearmint in a tub, it's the only one I really like the flavor of. I lost my lovage this winter so will planting it again in the spring.

I also grow Sweet Cicely, love it's ferny foliage and the immature seed pods are sweet to nibble. I know I have more herbs, feverfew and chamomile come to mind but that's all I can think of at the moment besides the short/clump/white flowered ? that blooms this time of year growing on a rock wall, I'm having a senior moment :o), the name won't come to me right now.

Annette

I confess, I have more of an herb garden that is cottage-y rather than a cottage garden with herbs. I grow about 300 herbs. Lady's mantle is terrific in a perennial border. As is catmint. Rose-scented bee balm is gorgeous, the hummingbirds go crazy for it, and the scent can't be beat.

Rose-scented bee balm? I've never hear of that before, but it sounds like a great plant to add to the garden. What color are the flowers?

I've thought about catmint, but my barn kitties might get a little silly with it :)

Herbalbetty, do you have pics of your garden? It sounds wonderful.

I grow herbs for decoration, food, and medicine. I buy at least 6 every spring as many don't winter over here. I especially like variegated and purple foliage plants. Oregano, purple sage, rosemary, marjoram, most thymes, Dusty Miller are only grown as annuals. Even lemon balm is not winter hardy here. I plant many at the edge of the patio so they are easy to get to and enjoy.

In my main perennial garden I also have lavender, chives, flax, lovage, Johnny-Jump-Ups, feverfew, rue, mallow, horseradish, lamb's ears, Lady's Mantle, as well as red/pink/yellow yarrow that return, some self-seed. Some are only decorative in my garden altho historically have been used medicinally. We removed 3 stones in our patio and planted creeping thyme which returns.

I didn't plant it this year but had a welcome parsley volunteer in a part of my garden where parsley has never been. I've seeded various herbs over the years. One year I even seeded rosemary, which can be difficult, and had lots of little plants by the end of the summer. They don't overwinter outdoors and are not easy to keep as houseplants I've found.

We have red clover growing wild and I may plant more as a ground cover in my new garden.

One year I had 10 different kinds of mint and kept them all in large pots. We buried the pots to overwinter, left them in place and they started to escape. So all but 2 were moved next to the barn where I think the deer ate them and they disappeared.

Historically gardens were grown primarily for food and medicine so herbals were part of this. The fact gardens are decorative was a secondary function, now of course frequently the primary function. I like a combination.

Rose-scented bee balm has lovely pink flowers. Catnip is well loved by all the neighborhood cats, but they have never bothered the catmint. Of course, different cats like different things.

Monarda didyma was a thug in my old garden. It ate my Shasta Daisies- descended from my Grandma :( . It competed one on one with my white obedient plant. This was even in partial shade.

Nancy.

Herbalbetty- I think rose-scented bee balm and catmint would look nice together. Any idea where to find that particular bee balm? Any nurseries or sites you would recommend? Also, is catmint better to buy the plant, or grow from seed?

Thank you!

Betty, I didn't know Lady's Mantle was a herb. I planted a couple in my mom's Indiana garden a number of years ago on the recommendation of a local nursery there. Was amazed to see how much they grew each year.

I cook with every herb I grow except 3 ... Mexican Mint Marigold (also known as Spanish Tarragon) I grow it for the pretty gold flowers that bloom all fall. Coconut-scented geranium ... a light brush up against the leaves releases that delightful, sweet coconut scent. And pineapple sage grown for the hummers. Down here it blooms spring and fall.