Herbs For Northeast Florida Gardens
What is an Herb Exactly?
An herb is, as defined by Miriam Webster’s dictionary: A seed producing annual, biennial, or perennial that does not develop persistent woody tissue but dies down at the end of a growing season : A plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory, or aromatic qualities.
That doesn’t really work for our purposes here, we will include plants like rosemary, or thyme that will remain evergreen during the winter and last for many years in the garden. For our purposes here at S & J Nursery, the word herb will be used a bit more openly and will include any plant that is grown for their culinary or medicinal use, and/or for the flavoring or aroma that they provide.
Uses for Herbs in Northeast Florida Gardens 
Herbs make perfect plants for patio gardens or container plantings in Florida, or for incorporating into a mixed perennial borders, or cottage garden, and of course they are right at home in your vegetable garden as well. There are a fair amount of herbs that make excellent hardy ground covers, replacements for shrubs and even patio trees. They come in every shape, size, color, and texture and add much to the aesthetic appeal of any landscape planting.
I love to incorporate herbs into unsuspecting areas of the garden where passersby can brush against them and almost without even knowing it perfume your garden for you.
It’s a trick that I guess I learned from my mother. She loves the smell of Basil, and incorporates Basil into her potted flower containers that brightly adorn the steps leading up to her house. I was changing out the annual flowers in her pot right before the Thanksgiving holiday and I asked her why she always added basil to the mixed flower pots. I thought it was a bit odd, mostly because I had recently planted her an herb garden just around the corner. (Probably so she would stop putting basil in my mixed flower pots.) When I asked her about the basil in the flower pots, she just looked at me a bit funny and said “So I can smell it as I come and go!” I guess I should have known, the path to the herb garden was just not travelled enough to suit her!
Well, I guess like mother, like daughter, I don’t particularly prefer the smell of basil, at all, but do love the smell of thyme. So, being my mother’s daughter, I add it here and there around the paving stones that lead through my garden, knowing that it will creep over onto the stones to get stomped on a bit so I can smell it when I’m working in the garden.
Rosemary at the garden’s gate, Mint along the edge of a path, a Bay Tree topiary on the patio, a pot of mixed herbs right outside the kitchen door for easy picking, hardy Oregano as a ground cover… Herbs are at home anywhere you want to grow something green! They fit perfectly in a thousand places, for a thousand reasons. So the next time you`re looking for that perfect plant to expand your landscape, consider adding some herbs. You’ll be surprised at all the places you can think of to put them.
Click these links to view other
S & J Nursery’s Herbs for Northeast Florida Gardens
Aloe
Anise
Basil Varieties Home
Basil Crimson King
Basil Dwarf Purple
Basil Greek Columnar
Basil Lemon
Basil Lettuce Leaf
Basil Lime
Bay Laurel
Bee Balm
Borage
Cardamom
Catnip
Chervil
Chives Garlic
Chives, Onion
Coriander / Cilantro
Culantro
Cumin
Dill
Fennel
Garlic
Ginger
Ginseng
Horehound
Lavender
Lemon Balm
Lemon Grass
Lemon Verbena
Lovage
Marjoram
Mint Home
Mint, Apple
Mint, Chocolate
Mint, Corsican
Mint, Ginger
Mint, Mohito
Mint, Orange
Mint, Peppermint
Mint, Pineapple
Mint, Spearmint
Nasturtium
Oregano Varities Home
Oregano Golden
Oregano Greek Culinary ‘Hirta’
Oregano Hot and Spicy
Oregano Italian
Parsley, Flat Leaf
Rosemary Varieties Home
Rosemary Hardy Hill
Rosemary Tuscan Blue
Sage Varieties Home
Sage Berggarten
Savory
Tarragon
Thyme Varieties Home
Thyme English
Thyme Golden Lemon
Thyme Silver
A Garden for your Senses Floridata Herb Gardening for Florida
Fresh From Florida’s Using Herbs in Cooking http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/16804/269987/P-01333.pdf
Florida’s Herb Society – http://www.floridaherbsociety.org/
Click here to open a new window for more information on Herbs for the Northeast Florida Landscape from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.