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Plans for an herb garden


How to Design an Herb Garden

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When planning a new herb garden there are many different approaches you can take. Herbs can be planted in a formal garden interspersed with flowers, trees and shrubs or in theme gardens. You can also just plant a patch outside your kitchen door for cooking purposes. Use whatever works best for you and your particular needs.

For gardeners that like projects or who have been gardening for some time and want a challenge, a formal garden is best. A formal herb garden consists of a series of beds interspersed with walk ways. The beds do not have to be identical, but should be balanced and work together. In the 16th century, gardeners designed “knot” herb gardens in which the plants create intricate, geometric patterns within a square or triangle. When designing a knot garden, choose low-growing, compact plants such as thyme, hyssop and rosemary. Avoid fast-growing invasive herbs such as those from the mint family. They’ll eventually just take over your garden.

Now you can enjoy growing indoors all year long! At Planet Natural, we’ve carefully selected only the best indoor gardening supplies — from lighting and hydroponics to starter plugs and growing mediums — to make your indoor growing experiences blossom.

Plant herbs in large clay pots to create the classic look of a French culinary garden. Be sure to use plenty of basil, thyme, marjoram, lavender, summer savory, rosemary, sage and fennel. Herbs can be grown by themselves or in groupings, depending upon your preference. Visit the Iowa State University Extension for more on culinary gardens.

To keep your garden looking great throughout the growing season, consider interspersing your herbs with flowers, shrubs and other plants. That way, something will always be blooming and your garden will continue to impress, even while other plants have passed their prime.

Finally, consider a theme garden. Themes can include kitchen gardens planted with herbs used in cooking (thyme, sage, basil, tarragon, dill) or herb gardens that focus more on scent including mint, scented geranium, lemon balm and rosemary. Heck, it’s your herb garden! As long as you’re not entering a competition, you can create any kind of theme you want. All that really matters is that you enjoy it.

Table of Contents

Many herbs are used as companion plants in vegetable and flower gardens. Companion planting is based on the belief that certain plants, when grown near each other, are mutually beneficial. For example, basil attracts honey bees which are needed to pollinate tomatoes. Garlic is known to deter many garden pests and may even contribute to the flowering of some plants. Chives are often grown as a border around rose gardens to prevent black spot. Many herbs (dill, yarrow, rosemary, coriander) will also provide a desirable habitat for beneficial insects — predatory and parasitic insects that help to keep pest populations under control.

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If the lists of compatible plants at various sites online leave you dizzy, you can instead focus on our relatively short list of basic principles here:

Here are the Do’s

Here are the Don’ts

Keep in mind, that since most companions must be planted very near each other to have any effect, companion planting is especially well-adapted to small gardens where plants are grown in close proximity and space is at a premium.

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Flexible Design Plan for a Simple Formal Herb Garden

By

Marie Iannotti

Marie Iannotti

Marie Iannotti is a life-long gardener and a veteran Master Gardener with nearly three decades of experience. She's also an author of three gardening books, a plant photographer, public speaker, and a former Cornell Cooperative Extension Horticulture Educator. Marie's garden writing has been featured in newspapers and magazines nationwide and she has been interviewed for Martha Stewart Radio, National Public Radio, and numerous articles.

Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process

Updated on 05/11/21

The Spruce /  Marie Iannotti

Formal herb gardens—with their symmetry, knots and interweaving textures—can look intimidating. But to create a simple formal herb garden, all you really need to do is choose a geometric shape, like a circle or a square, divide it into sections of equal size and fill each section with similar or complementary plants. Designing a formal herb garden is easy enough. Just don't lose sight of the maintenance involved with keeping order in your herb garden. The more precise the lines, the more any wayward plants will stick out like a sore thumb.

A less labor-intensive approach is to give your herb garden the bones of a formal layout and then fill it with exuberant herb plants that can be allowed to mature, fill in and spread without constant supervision.

Choosing Plants for an Herb Garden

When selecting plants for a formal herb garden, consider the growth habits and mature sizes of the plants. Place low creepers, like thyme and chamomile, on opposite path edges to complement each other. Put more aggressive herbs, like mints and lemon balm, in pots either above or below the ground.

Most herbs used for culinary purposes won't be allowed to flower early in the season. So focus on texture and foliage color to bring a sense of fullness to your herb garden design.

Make sure all the plants can be accessed, both for harvesting and maintenance, without walking into the beds. The paths should be at least three feet wide for easy walking. Since this is a formal garden, the paths can be paved or mulched to provide the axis for the garden.

The garden design shown here contains 20 different herb plants. Most of these plants will flower at some point in the season, but there is plenty of variety with just the plant shapes and textures. The sprawlers are kept to a minimum, to retain a somewhat formal feel. You can, of course, improvise any way that suits you.

The color scheme is another unifying element that adds to the formality. It makes use of the complementary color combos of purple/yellow and blue/orange. If the orange of the calendula and nasturtiums is too bold for you, you can always substitute one of the paler yellow varieties or the pink variety of calendula.

The center of a formal herb garden is usually the focal point. Even though there is a formality, the focal point is a chance for you to show your gardening personality. It could be a large herb plant, such as a sweet bay tree or large potted rosemary. Many gardeners like to put a garden ornament in the center of their herb gardens, like a birdbath, either as a bath or as a planter. Another popular feature is placing a sundial in a small center bed and surrounding it with thyme plants. Whimsy is permitted in a formal herb garden.

Below is a list of plants used in this basic garden design (read on for more detail), but remember, the plants you choose to use (and number and variety) will depend on the specifics of your garden.

  1. Lavender bee balm
  2. Thyme
  3. Cilantro
  4. Lavender
  5. Lemon balm
  6. Borage
  7. Tarragon
  8. Nasturtium
  9. Chives
  10. Purple sage
  11. Dill
  12. Lemon thyme
  13. Greek oregano
  14. Bronze fennel
  15. Golden variegated sage
  16. Calendula
  17. Parsley
  18. Basil assortment
  19. Chamomile
  20. Bird bath

Herb garden on New Holland Island

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05/06/2021

New Holland Island Herb Garden

From history

The man-made island "New Holland" was erected under Peter I in the 20s of the 18th century in St. Petersburg. The first Russian military port was located here, and in Soviet times there were warehouses of a naval base.

In 2010, the reconstruction of the New Holland Island began, in 2016 it became open to visitors and is a landmark of the Northern capital.

New Holland is an architectural monument, a unique park with an educational center and sports studios, a concert and theater venue, and a space for art objects.

About the project

The landscaping part of the large-scale reorganization of the territory was carried out by the Dutch bureau West 8. As part of the project, the landscape bureau "MOH" created a wonderful Herb Garden in 2018 - a flower garden of cereals and perennials in the style of "new perennials" ( New Perennials ) with an area of ​​about 800 m², spectacular from different vantage points.

Plants in the garden

Plants were selected resistant, naturally combined with cereals, well-kept after flowering, they were planted in large groups, taking into account the timing of flowering and decorative peaks.

A significant part of the flower garden is occupied by grasses 50 cm to 2 m high.

Tall cereals form distant shots and are used as accent spots; lower cereals are planted in the center of flower beds and along paths.

Flower garden symbol, recognizable element - oak sage ( Salvia nemorosa) is one of the most beautiful perennials. Arrays of sage always make a vivid impression. Blue-violet waves of different shades pass through the cereal field, mix with the cereals at the edges and gradually dissolve naturally into them.

Sage blooms in the first half of June and blooms for two months, and when four different varieties are used, flowering is extended; with proper agricultural technology, sage can bloom again at the end of summer.

Among the grasses in the waves of sage, there are also other perennials, annuals, bulbs, they are secondary, but thanks to them the flower garden changes noticeably and is decorative during the season.

A single, recognizable and memorable image has been created!

Thanks to Mikhail Shcheglov for providing wonderful photos.

The text is based on the site of the landscape bureau "MOH".

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Herb Garden - a new landscape project - News

August 6, 2021 Tatyana Filippova

On a warm day on August 5, the Yeltsin Center presented Yekaterinburg a new landscape project - the Herb Garden. It is located on fifteen acres between the Yeltsin Center and the Drama Theater and already pleases the townspeople with its blooming splendor.

The Yeltsin Center carefully monitors and looks after the territory adjacent to the center. They plant white and pink hydrangeas, mow shrubs and trees, take care of personalized benches, sift and disinfect sand in the largest sandbox in the city.

On the eve of the City Day, a herb garden in the spirit of modern landscape gardening trends appeared on the embankment near the Yeltsin Center, where citizens can enjoy blooming sage, oregano, iris, mock orange, echinacea, many variations of stonecrop, wormwood, meadow grass and other herbs. In the garden, six thousand one hundred and fifty seedlings were planted, grown in the Savateev Nursery near Moscow, more than fifty species of plants in total.

The project was developed by landscape architect Nadezhda Astanina and Denis Batashev, head of the Botanik landscape studio, in partnership with the Yekaterinburg architectural bureau OSA. Planting was carried out by the Yekaterinburg company Hopta landscape. Sberbank of Russia provided financial support to the project.

Opening of the Herb Garden at the Yeltsin Center

Alexander Mekhonoshin

01 /12

Alexey Orlov, Olga Zhdanovich, Vladislav Shilenko, Evgeny Kuyvashev. Herb Garden Opening

The opening ceremony was attended by Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Yevgeny Kuyvashev, Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexei Orlov, Sverdlovsk branch manager of Sberbank Vladislav Shilenko, Development Director of the Yeltsin Center Olga Zhdanovich and project coordinator landscape architect Nadezhda Astanina, as well as citizens and representatives of the city media.

The Governor stressed that thanks to such projects, the capital of the Urals is becoming one of the greenest cities in Russia.

– This beautiful garden will decorate not only the embankment, but the whole city. I thank the Yeltsin Center and Sberbank of Russia for such an initiative and the ability to implement everything planned.

The mayor of the city called the historic Iset embankment a favorite place for the citizens to relax. It is all the more pleasant that it is being transformed, following modern technologies and urban greening trends.

- This is the standard of improvement and creation of comfortable conditions for the residents of Yekaterinburg and our guests, which we must strive for absolutely everywhere.

Vladislav Shilenko noted that this is the first gift to the city in honor of the 180th anniversary of Sberbank, which is celebrated this year.

– As part of the modern ESG agenda (effective environmental, social and corporate governance – ed. ) we pay special attention to care for the environment and ecology, therefore, with great pleasure, we supported the initiative of the Yeltsin Center to improve this section of the embankment. It is important for us that the Herb Garden will delight citizens and guests of the city not only in summer. Plants are selected in such a way that they will retain their beauty in any season.

Olga Zhdanovich told how the project took shape and how it will develop further, what functions it carries - not only environmental and aesthetic, but also enlightening and educational. The flower beds will soon have signs with the Russian and Latin names of herbs, and at the entrance to the garden there will be a plan-scheme of the location of various species. In the evening and at night, Olga stressed, flower arrangements, trees and art objects will be illuminated with special illumination.

Nadezhda Astanina led the first tour of the Herb Garden. She answered journalists' questions and drew the attention of the first tourists, among whom were Evgeny Kuyvashev and Alexei Orlov, to the concept of placing a collection of herbs. No beds and strict geometry. Six thousand seedlings covered the lawn with a patchwork quilt on both sides of the central alley. All trees and shrubs on this section of the embankment are carefully preserved. Paths to swings and benches are laid through flower beds - places of rest, solitude and bright memorable selfies. They are strewn not just with gravel, but with crushed Ural jasper, which gives the paths a noble pink tint.

– Natural planting of grasses in islands provides a vibrant visual diversity, creates the atmosphere of a natural meadow among concrete and asphalt, and restores the natural ecosystem. Our Herb Garden has already been chosen by birds, bees, butterflies and ladybugs.

Hope is confident that the Herb Garden will become a center of attraction for the townspeople. Meadow grasses will return nature to the city, will have a beneficial effect on humans, reducing the level of stress and tension.

- This is a public green space - an area designed to remind us that nature should be present in the city. The lawn familiar to all of us is good when you want to lie on the grass, walk barefoot on it. Yekaterinburg is a green city, but it lacks natural diversity. Decorative flower beds with annuals cannot be touched or smelled. They do not smell as powerful and attractive as herbs.

Alexander Mekhonoshin

01 /12

Opening of the Herb Garden

The global trend is precisely to return wildlife, its natural diversity, to the city. This not only improves the quality of life of citizens, brings aesthetic pleasure, but also great environmental benefits. In addition to recreational, the garden will also have an educational function. Children will be able to study the natural cycle of plants, observe how they live and develop in natural conditions.

Block-matrix landing can be called a global trend today. In Moscow, Krymskaya Embankment has already been planted in this way, and in St. Petersburg - New Holland. Now Yekaterinburg will have its own Herb Garden, where the plants are planted in separate islands, which resembles a huge color palette.

– Here is a block of sedum, then a block of cuff, followed by a granular meadow, and inside it sparkles echinocea and goiter, - the landscape architect comments animatedly. - You see that everything looks very picturesque! It will be a luxurious, flowering meadow and a place of power. Locked in our apartments, we miss wildlife so much that we cannot inhale this fragrance.

The herb garden is organically located between existing trees and shrubs. Answering journalists' questions, Nadezhda stressed that not a single tree was damaged during the laying of the garden. On the contrary, they were “fed” and put in order. There was practically no fertile layer under the trees, only construction debris, powdered with earth, on which a stunted lawn was laid. Therefore, the trees are exhausted, their root system does not develop, and they grew slowly. The organizers of the garden took out the garbage and covered the cleared area half a meter with fertile living earth.

The garden will be beaded with a special metal band and sprinkled with pine bark mulch to rid it of weeds.

– Plants are frost-resistant, unpretentious, – says the project coordinator, – but at first they require special care. Plants increase the humidity in the air. And the soil stays moist. With this heat and mowed lawn in the city, the soil often dries up and becomes lifeless. The herb garden will help restore a natural ecosystem to this small patch.

The creators of the Herb Garden say they didn't aim for a perfect landscape. The meadow space is devoid of deliberate decorativeness and is as close as possible to the natural habitat.

On the opening day of the Herb Garden, Nadezhda Astanina gave a lecture "The Herb Garden: New Aesthetics of the City". Cities need green frames. These are not just lungs of the city, but also those oases and ecosystems in which birds, animals and insects can exist. Asphalt and concrete are detrimental to them. That is why the islands of wildlife began to pay special attention. Herb gardens are gaining popularity all over the world. They have a minimum of decorativeness, on the contrary, they are modeled in such a way that they are as close to nature as possible. In contrast to the gray, stone cities, such gardens look like real art objects, a riot of colors and smells that can be enjoyed endlessly. Nadezhda spoke about the most ambitious projects of the Herb Gardens, which, along with historical and architectural objects, are becoming real tourist attractions.

It is possible to create a herbal garden with little money, says Nadezhda, if there is a desire. Residents of some "depressed" cities take the initiative, open the asphalt, sow the soil with meadow grasses, and thus improve the quality of life. Flower beds in a natural style create a special aesthetics, please the eye, create a positive mood. And at the same time they do not require special expensive care.

Nadezhda conducted a small educational program for gardening lovers, told about block, matrix and mix planting methods in existing projects. She also told how the idea of ​​the Herb Garden came from the Yeltsin Center, how the project developed and, finally, how it was implemented and integrated into the urban environment. During the preparation of the territory for landing, eight hundred cubic meters of crushed stone and construction waste were removed and disposed of. And accordingly, it is covered with the same amount of living, high-quality, fertile land. This soil was not just dug up, it was prepared by suppliers who “produce” the earth. This is the main resource and one of the most important conditions for the success of the project: the soil is exactly what meadow grasses need, in which they feel comfortable both in summer and in winter.

Two trucks with seedlings arrived from the Moscow region. All of them survived, despite the abnormal thirty-degree heat. They were watered, shaded, prepared for planting. The landing itself lasted more than two weeks. Quadcopter footage showed the scale of the actions taken and the internal structure of the flower garden. Hope commented on the choice of herbs and cereals. The main criterion is frost resistance, unpretentiousness and growth, supporting not only the color scheme, but also the vertical structure of the landscape.

Citizens present at the lecture saw the result: a flourishing, fragrant, eye-pleasing plantation. In the early twilight, illuminated by illumination, the Herb Garden looks especially magnificent. The audience thanked the lecturer, project coordinator, landscape architect Nadezhda Astanina with applause, and then walked along with her along the Herb Garden.

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