Five Remarkable Herbs for your Kitchen Garden

Around the Gardens

There is nothing better than using homegrown herbs in a home-cooked meal. Growing herbs in your garden provides many more benefits than just enhancing your culinary dishes. They improve the aroma and aesthetics of your backyard, play an important role for pollinators, and some even have medicinal properties or contain natural dyes. Here are some of our favorite herbs to include in our Herb Terrace at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Find them at our Spring Plant Sale, April 10–12!

By Katelyn Bahr, Horticulturist for Specialty Gardens

African Blue Basil (Ocimum kilimandscharicum x basilicum)

Basil is a must-have in any vegetable garden. Not only is it harvestable all season long, basils are a great companion plant as they repel garden pests and attract beneficial insects. African Blue Basil is one of our favorites because of its constant blooms. The long, purple flowers are like a magnet to bees and other pollinators. It is a hybrid, sterile basil, so it does not go to seed. This means you must take cuttings to propagate, or purchase one from your local plant sale!

Roman Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile)

Chamomile is a sweet-smelling herb with gorgeous, daisy-like flowers. These flowers are used for medicinal purposes, both orally and topically, to treat a wide array of ailments. They also make tasty, relaxing herbal teas. Roman Chamomile is a low-growing perennial, so it is a great ground cover in the garden. This is one of the sweeter smelling chamomile varieties, almost apple-scented

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus)

Lemongrass is a hardy herb that is commonly used in Asian cooking. It is also used in teas and natural remedies. Because of its citrusy scent, lemongrass is deer-resistant and a natural mosquito repellent. Many organic bug sprays use lemongrass oil as their active ingredient. This is a great plant to have on the porch as it keeps the insects at bay while maintaining the look of a beautiful, ornamental grass.

Gorizia Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)

Rosemary is an evergreen herb that can reach 4 to 6 feet tall over time. It is winter hardy in our area, which means you can harvest year-round! This versatile plant can be grown in a pot or in the ground as an ornamental shrub. There are many different cultivars of rosemary, varying in overall appearance, growth habit, taste, and cold-hardiness. One of our favorite varieties is Gorizia Rosemary, as it has the best flavor. It is fast-growing, produces light blue flowers that attract pollinators, and has needles double the size of other cultivars.

Texas Tarragon (Tagetes lucida)

Tarragon has many uses besides cooking. It makes a great tea, has many health benefits, and is used in some cosmetics. Texas Tarragon produces small, marigold-like flowers at the end of the growing season, making it one of the few things to bloom in fall. You can use these blooms to make a golden colored natural dye. Not only is it one of our favorite herbs, the pollinators seem to like it too! Texas Tarragon is a host plant for Eastern Black Swallowtails, so be sure to leave some for our butterflies when you harvest!