Herbs are a group of plants that are as useful today as they were centuries ago, and thank goodness for that. Their good looks, easy care, and delicious tastes and smells make them stars in gardens and landscapes. Mid-summer is the prime time for eating fresh, homegrown fruits and vegetables, and a great time to use herbs to zhuzh up what’s on your plate now and to preserve for later use.
A simple definition of herbs are plants that are grown for their fresh and dried leaves for use in the culinary, medicinal, and cosmetic worlds, that also can be used to make crafts, dyes and home care products. Herbs encompass a broad group of plants, including woody perennial plants (lavender, rosemary), nonwoody perennials (chives, lemon balm), annuals (dill, basil), and biennials (parsley, angelica). There are many more in each category.
Herbs grow well together in garden landscapes but can have subtle differences when it comes to pruning back in spring, timing of harvests, uses and preservation (drying, freezing, etc). Spices, on the other hand, are the bark, roots, leaves and seeds from mostly tropical plants. One common plant we know as an herb also produces a spice: Cilantro leaves are used in dozens of dishes while the seeds of its plant are the spice coriander.
Many gardeners include herbs in their landscapes for their foliage and flowers, and to draw in pollinators and other beneficial insects. But they might be missing out on using those herbs in traditional ways. Get beyond th.