Herbs For Northeast Florida

Herbs For Northeast Florida Gardens

Herbs Northeast Florida Jacksonvilel and St. Augustine

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 for Northeast Florida uses

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 Dittany of Crete

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.