“Growing herbs means you’ll always have a fresh supply of delicious flavors and pleasant scents whenever you need them. Many of these plants are also quite attractive, especially when carefully selected and arranged to show off their beauty, as in this plan. This classic herb garden idea features several easy-to-grow aromatic plants that are pleasing to the eyes and nose alike.
‘”This design echoes a theme used by medieval monks for their apothecary gardens: a circle around a cross. A sundial in the center of the bed is also a traditional element and acts as an elegant focal point. You can use the stepping stone path to easily access and maintain the plants around it. Harvest the herbs just before they bloom for the best flavor.” Sheryl Geerts Better Homes & Gardens
Sundial Garden Layout
I have altered the plant list to suit my preferences,
Sundial Garden Plant List
A. Creeping English Thyme
B. Berggarten Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten’) – 1 Plant
C. Bronze Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)- 1 Plant
D. Sundial Surrounded by 4 English Thymes
E.Bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’) – 1 Plant
F. Dill (Anethum graveolens) – 1 Plant
G. Curly Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) – 3 Plants
H. Oregano
I. Genovese Basil
J. Chives
English Creeping Thyme Thymus serpyllum
Image Credit: Breoudo
Height: 2 – 3″
Perennial
Heirloom
Berggarten Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten’)
Image Credit: Lazy Ox Farm
Height: 24″
Perennial
Evergreen
“Salvia officinalis. Cooks and gardeners alike enjoy this evergreen perennial for the unique, pungent flavor and aroma that its gray-green leaves produce. More compact than the species, forming a 2-foot-tall by 3-foot-wide bush with woody stems that may be trimmed back to newly emerging growth or strong stems in spring.
Bierggarten Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten’)
Image Credit: Lazy Ox Farm
In early to mid-summer, it sends up purple flower spikes. It boasts attractively rounded leaves and, like the species, has both ornamental and culinary qualities in an herb garden. It tolerates alkaline soils but not wet winter conditions. Attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Deer, rabbit, and drought tolerant. Hardy in Zones 5-8.” Lazy Ox Farm
Bronze Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’)
mage Credit: Lazy Ox Farm
Height: 36″
Perennial
Heirloom
Partially Evergreen
“A beautiful, tasty herb that also attracts beneficial insects. Everyone should have some fennel growing in their garden. It has feathery, bronze colored foliage that looks lovely in the back of a border. (It grows 3 or more feet high and 2 feet wide.) The yellow flower heads are showy and attract bees, parasitic wasps, and hoverflies. The anise scented and flavored leaves and dried seeds can be used in the kitchen and in teas. Fennel is a short-lived perennial in zones 5 through 9, but it readily self-sows. Let some seeds mature on the plant and drop and you will have a fennel patch next year. You can cut the blooming stalks back to keep the plant better looking for longer. I like to munch on a fennel sprig whenever I am working in the garden.
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Bronze Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’)
Image Credit: Lazy Ox Farm
The Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly Hosts on Bronze Fennel
“The blooms and seed heads make excellent bouquet fillers, too. Open Pollinated. Perennial zones 5 – 9. Italian heirloom.
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Rosemary – Live Herb Plant – Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Spice Island’ – Grown in Organic Potting Soil
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