Sprawling ground cover forms of rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, that get only a foot or so deep are the most familiar. Taller upright types that can get to six feet tall can be quite sculptural. There are several shorter shrubby types in between that can be allowed to grow wild or shorn into tight hedges.
All rosemary is densely foliated with small narrow leaves not much more than an inch long. It is used as an herb because it is so aromatic and flavorful. Tiny flowers bloom in various shades of blue through winter and spring, and sometimes again in autumn. Stems that root where they touch the ground can be dug and moved as new plants.
Once naturalized in the garden, chamomile, Matricaria recutita, can get to be too much of a good thing. Seed sown in at the end of winter or early in spring typically does very well in the first year. The new plants bloom abundantly by the middle of summer and eventually become rampant and sparse enough to get cut back by the end of the following winter. The largest and most productive plants can die at the end of their first year, but are only replaced by the formerly smaller plants that survive getting cut back through winter to get an early start the following spring. Self sown seed can fill in where last year’s plants do not, and can migrate into places where no one would have thought to plant them!
The finely divided, lacy foliage stands nearly two feet tall, and more than half as broad on somewhat floppy stems. The inch wide daisy flowers that are white around the edges of big yellow centers can be dried to make chamomile tea.
‘Snowball’, ‘Golden Ball’ and ‘White Stars’ are actually varieties of related Chrysanthemum parthenium that are sometimes sold as chamomile. Feverfew, chamaemelum nobile, stays dense and low, and can be a nice ground cover for small areas. I grew my favorite traditional chamomile (as well as feverfew) from seed from Renee’s Garden.
Even passion flower can make a nice, albeit colorless, tea.
When she was younger, my niece, who happens to be the most elegantly refined girl in Gilroy, enjoyed doing tea. She certainly had the technique, as well as two patient grandmothers, to indulge in this particular tradition properly. The only problem was caffeine.
She was such a young lady; and her Nana and Grandma refrained from the consumption of caffeine. Black tea, made from the fermented bud leaves of tea camellias, was not a good option. Even green tea, made from the same leaves but without fermentation, contains some degree of caffeine. Herbal teas were more practical, as well as appealing to the discriminating taste of a young lady of such impeccable refinement.
There are all sorts of herbal teas made from flowers, leaves and fruit that can be grown in home gardens. Mint, chamomile and lemon grass are perhaps the most well known. Peppermint, spearmint and the many other varieties of mint all have unique flavors. Lavender, particularly French lavender, and some of the many sages can be used to add a bit of their distinctive flavors, too.
Thinly sliced and dried ginger and licorice root make spicy teas that are also good remedies to a mildly upset stomach. However, flowering ginger is not as robust as herbal ginger is. Finely chopped dried berries, cherries, apricots and quince, as well as the rinds of lemons and oranges, add their fruity flavors. The extensive tea list at the White Raven in Felton features teas flavored with dried hibiscus flowers, pelargoniums and rose hips.
Experimenting with herbal tea is like cooking. Within reason, anything goes. Tea can even be made from the dried young shoots of Douglas fir! The only plants that can not be used as tea are those that are potentially toxic.
Tea can of course be enjoyed hot, cold, or even at ambient temperature. Herbal tea is almost always made from dried plant parts, but can be made from fresh parts as well. The various mints have different flavors if brewed from fresh bits taken directly from the garden instead of dried leaves. I actually like to add a few fresh leaves from rose scented geranium (pelargonium) to common sun tea made by leaving black tea to brew out in a jar in the sun.
While they are in season, I also like to add a thin slice of fresh quince, which is so strongly flavored that it is just as effective fresh as it is dried for sun tea or hot tea. Apples and crabapples are also nice, but with much milder, and perhaps even boring, flavor. I prefer to eat the apples and then drop the cores into tea. A Slice or two of richly flavored fig can be good in sweetened hot tea.
Propagation is not a problem for mint, Menthaspicata. It grows very easily from cuttings, even in water. Alternatively, it grows efficiently from division of its dense network of basal stolons. A more likely problem is its potential invasiveness. It spreads everywhere it finds water, even into other vegetation. Therefore, it is more popular in pots than in the ground.
Mint is as popular for its herbal or culinary application as for its aesthetic appeal. Various cultivars and hybrids provide various flavors and aromas of mint. It is handsome alone in pots, or can mingle nicely with annuals, perennials or herbs. It is a traditional component of mixed window boxes. With containment it can be a splendid small scale ground cover.
Mature growth is generally less than a foot high. It can sprawl almost three feet high onto low shrubbery, though. Occasional shearing, particularly after winter, maintains tidier and lower growth. Paired evergreen leaves are about two inches long, with serrated margins. Slender floral spikes of tiny white or pink flowers may get slightly shabby during summer if not shorn.
Mints have a sneaky way of migrating around a garden.
What most people who have grown the various mints remember about them is that they have a sneaky way of getting around the garden. They do not seem to be aggressive or weedy, but can be invasive with their subterranean stems nonetheless. That is why they are so commonly grown in pots, planter boxes or even pots sunken into the ground. Contained plants that get cut back at the end of winter every year look much better than unkempt plants that do what they want to anyway.
Once established, mint does not need any attention at all and only moderate watering. However, it performs much better with somewhat rich soil, regular watering and occasional grooming to remove old stems and spend flower stalks, (as well as getting cut to the ground in winter). Mints tolerate considerable shade or can be just as happy with full sun exposure.
Spearmint, Mentha spicata, is probably the most popular mint, with rich green serrate leaves that are a bit smaller than those of the second most common mint, peppermint. Minute pale blue flowers bloom in vertical trusses at high as two and a half feet. Most of the foliage stays lower, about a foot deep. The leaves can be used for flavoring fresh from the garden or dried. Like all mints, spearmint is very easy to propagate by division of rooted stems.
California bay can work somethin like culinary sweet bay.
While the winter weather is still cool and damp, most of the herbs in the garden are not very impressive. Like vegetables though, herbs that are new to the garden should be planted as winter ends when no more frost is expected. Also like vegetables, some herbs are easier to grow from small plants or seedlings purchased from nurseries, and others are easier to sow directly from seed. Some are annuals or biennials. Others are perennials. Still others are woody plants.
Basil, cilantro and dill are commonly and easiest to grow from seed. Tarragon, sage, marjoram, mint and thyme are probably easier to grow from small plants found in nurseries. Chives, oregano, fennel and parsley are easy to grow by either means. Woody plants like rosemary, lavender and sweet bay can be grown either from small plants in the herb section of a nursery, or more substantial landscape plants.
All sorts of plants are grown as herbs to be used as seasoning, aroma (foliar fragrance) or even medicinally. Some are best grown strictly as herbs in an herb garden or incorporated into the vegetable garden because they lack visual appeal or because they eventually get cut and harvested. Others function quite well out in more refined landscapes.
Basil, cilantro, tarragon, sage, dill and marjoram are more utilitarian but less visually appealing herbs for the herb or vegetable garden, although some look good until they get harvested. Chives, mint, oregano, parsley and thyme look good enough for a landscape, and are not often harvested in quantities large enough to compromise their appearance. Fennel also looks good enough for the landscape, but then gets removed completely when harvested.
A few herbs are actually more often grown for their practicality in the landscape than in the herb garden. Thyme sometimes gets planted as a ground cover between stepping stones, since it is so compact and imparts its fragrance if trampled. Rosemary is actually a rather common ground cover where the soil does not hold enough moisture for more demanding plants. The various lavenders are nice ‘perennial’ shrubs. (‘Perennial’ shrubs do not last as long as woody shrubs.) Sweet bay is a nice small tree where space is limited, or can be shorn into a small hedge.
It seems that most herbs like good sun exposure and warmth during the summer, with well drained soil. Most do not need too much water once established. Only basil and parsley need regular watering. Chives and mint are not so needy, but do prefer to be watered regularly as well. Mint is commonly grown in pots because it can be somewhat invasive.
Jamaican allspice, Pimenta dioica, is rare here. I am beginning to learn why. Because it is tropical, it is vulnerable to even very minor frost. Actually, it is not so keen on chill either. It is rated for climates that are no cooler in winter than Zone 10. This is Zone 9. It seems to grow reasonably well in the Los Angeles region, where I collected my cuttings from Brent’s Jungalow Garden, but it is rare there also. That could be because it is not much to look at. Its foliage is no more interesting visually than that of common privet. Although the foliage is splendidly aromatic, only those who are familiar with the species, or become acquainted with its aroma while pruning it, would know. Its bloom is neither prominently colorful nor fragrant. What is worse is that the bloom is dioecious, with male or female flowers on different specimens. Single specimens have no problem blooming, but can not produce allspice fruits without a mate. Single male specimens are fruitless for obvious reasons. Single female specimens are fruitless without pollination. Not many people who grow the very rare single specimens are aware of this, although most are satisfied with the delightfully aromatic foliage. New specimens only very rarely become available in nurseries, and when they do, all of them were likely grown from the same stock specimen, so are genetically identical and of the same gender. Only seed grown specimens are random in regard to their respective genders, and even among them, their genders are unknown until they eventually bloom. The potential for growing both genders is proportionate to the number of seedlings. For example, one seedling will be of one gender. Two seedlings are as likely to be of the same gender as they are to be of different genders. Three are more likely to include one of another gender. Several or many are proportionately less likely to be of the same gender. All of my several cuttings were from the same specimen, so would have been genetically identical. It does not matter much now anyway, since only one survived, and even it is still rather wimpy. It has developed only two new leaves, and retains a trimmed portion of one of its original leaves. I am pleased with it regardless of its gender, and will be satisfied with only its aromatic foliage.
White sage is so aromatic that it may be be objectionable to some.
‘White’ is not often associated with ‘sage’, since so many sages are known for the rich shades of purple, blue and red of their flowers. Others have lavender, pale blue, pink, yellow or ‘almost’ orange flowers. Compared to these, the whorls of small, slightly blushed white flowers of white sage, Salvia apiana, are relatively unremarkable, even though they are held as high as a foot and a half above the shrubby foliage on elegantly slender flower spikes.
However, the evergreen silvery foliage of white sage is quite remarkable both visually and aromatically. It is so aromatic that some people may actually find it to be objectionable. Those who initially grow white sage as an herb or for use as incense later realize that it also becomes a prominent ornamental, particularly with dark green foliage, like junipers or arborvitaes, to contrast with its strikingly silvery color. Mature plants get taller and wider than three feet, with simple three inch long leaves. After spring bloom, flower spikes can be shorn off to promote fuller foliar density. I prefer to prune stems back more aggressively to promote more aromatic vigorous vegetative (non-blooming) growth. These vegetative stems become less aromatic as they too eventually bloom.
Spanish lavender is as herbal as English lavender.
While waiting for my white mocha at the White Raven coffee shop, I noticed white sage smudge sticks (incense) for sale. I also noticed that white sage is a component of at least one of the many herbal teas available. Although white is my favorite color, I am doubtful that it would be one of my favorite flavors. White sage seems to me to be much too pungent. I suppose that I should at least try it to satisfy my curiosity. Otherwise, the many other herbal teas included more docile but equally compelling herbs like sunflower petals, cactus flowers, chamomile, lavender, mint, catnip and various geraniums.
My mocha was ready too quickly, before I could investigate all of the herbal teas. Since I needed to get out of the way at the counter, I went to peruse the incense, where I again noticed some familiar herbs, like various sages, lavender, rosemary and bay laurel. A few plants that I do not commonly think of as herbs are common components of incense as well, such as juniper, cedar and pine. This was all too baffling; so I took my mocha to a table out front by a roadside garden, where I noticed some of the exact same herbs that I came outside to get away from!
All these fancy herbs and incenses and girly boutique beverages are simply not my cup of tea. Although at the White Raven, I know better than to be surprised by what might be in an excellent tea. Regardless, the garden out front is still more my style, and reminds me of how so many utilitarian herbs can also be very appealing ornamentals.
Rosemary, lavender and several of the sages are actually quite common in ordinary landscapes, whether or not anyone even notices that they have herbal merit. Some types of creeping thyme are sometimes used as ground cover in small areas, particularly around pavers or stepping stones where they release their fragrance if lightly trampled. Santolina and various yarrows and scented geraniums are less ordinary, but are similarly grown more often for their aesthetic value than as herbs. In my own garden, I really do not know what yarrow is good for. I like to add geranium leaves to sun tea, even if it makes it a girly boutique beverage.
Some herbs are almost too happy in my garden. The feverfew, chamomile and nasturtiums (my favorites!) that grew from seed from Renee’s Garden two years ago have spread outside of their area. I actually gave my mints away before they could escape. The catnip is confined to a hanging pot by the neighbor’s cat who gets sufficiently overindulgent to eradicate any self sown seedlings below. I never would have guessed that an inebriated cat could be so useful! Calendula, chive and oregano have all been grown from seed and become happily naturalized.
Some cultivars of culinary sage are more colorful for home gardens.
The sage that is most popularly grown for herbal and culinary uses (Salvia officinalis) is originally from the Mediterranean region, so is right at home in much of California. Like the various lavenders and some of the other related herbs, it is a shrubby perennial that behaves like a woody shrub, but lives only a few years like some perennials. Lower stems can be layered (buried where they touch the ground so that they form roots and grow into new plants) to replace older plants before they die.
Modern cultivars are quite variable with purplish, pink, pale yellow or pale white coloration or variegation to new foliage, as well as lower growth habit. The original sage gets almost two feet tall and broad, with very aromatic gray foliage. The narrowly oblong leaves are nearly two and a half inches long and one inch wide. The flowers that bloom in late spring or summer are typically pale blue, but can be purple, pink or white.
Tony Tomeo 