Colorful herbs

07/12/2004
Colorful herbs

Living in France, where most of the familiar herbs grow wild, has helped me blur the boundaries of my garden. While we all appreciate herbs for the fragrance and flavor they bring to our gardens and tables, have you learned to appreciate these plants as well for the beauty of their flowers and foliage? Seeing these diverse plants in their native habitat has helped me appreciate them in new ways. And since the tradition of the French potager is aesthetic as well as utilitarian, almost always including some flowers among the vegetables, what better way to honor this spirit than by including herbs with colorful blossoms and beautiful foliage?



Of course, the definition of "herb" is very broad--more functional than botanical. I'd say an herb is any plant that is beneficial in some way other than as a primary food to humans. How else to encompass plants that are grown for their aromas, for use as seasonings, as medicines, as dyes, as soaps, as insect repellents... Since herbs comprise such diverse species, it's hardly surprising that many of them have attractive flowers. The orange daisy flowers of calendula and the lacy yellow umbels of bronze fennel (above right) are just two examples.

The sunny blossoms of the major medicinal herb arnica (Arnica montana) in the main photo above might predispose us to think of this plant as just another pretty wildflower when we see it in a mountain meadow. Yet it's one of the most effective remedies for bruises and strains and most definitely qualifies as a major medicinal herb. To grow it in your garden, give it well-drained, gravelly soil and full sun.



Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) (photo left) is another major medicinal herb that doubles as a striking perennial flower. This sleep-inducing herb is widely available in pharmaceutical formulations. In your garden, it graces you with huge, airy umbels of fragrant, white to palest lavender blossoms whose fragrance is the reason for its sometime common name of "garden heliotrope". It self-sows with reasonable abandon and thrives even in heavy soils in full sun or part shade.




The old-time medicinal herb clary sage (Salvia sclarea) is used in infusion as an eye wash. This bold biennial has striking foliage, and erupts its second year with tall stalks of flowers that remind me of shrimp when they are still in bud (photo right). As they open, the blossoms branch into huge erect spikes with white or purple bracts which are irresistable to hummingbirds.





Of course, you don't need to grow medicinals to enjoy herbal blossoms in your garden. Many everyday culinary herbs have brightly colorful flowers. Thyme--my favorite flavoring herb--is especially generous, covering itself with tiny fragrant white, pink, or purple blossoms, depending on the species. In the photo at left, two different varieties of Thymus serpyllum mingle their blossoms. When I travel in the southern half of France, it's never without a trowel to dig up bits of regional wild thymes, which I treasure for their highly varied and distinctive perfumes. These are two of them. In the photo below right, lemon thyme spreads its carpet of twinkling, pale lavender blossoms below the violet spikes of purple-leaved sage for a combination that is as pretty as it is fragrant.

By the way, thyme blossoms are the most prized part of the plant for seasoning in France. While your thyme is in bloom, make sure to cut a bundle to dry for winter use. In addition, shearing off the flowers will promote new leafy growth to follow.



Elsewhere I devoted an entire article to the virtues of growing angelica (Angelica archangelica, photo below left). Did I mention its beautiful, dramatic round flower umbels which erupt into firework sprays of seed for next year's crop? Culinary angelica is too beautiful a plant to be forgotten, as it seemingly has been. Yet Angelica gigas, a non-fragrant, "ornamental" angelica has become a sort of a fad plant among perennial gardeners over the past few years.



Another herb that is treasured by French cooks in its wild state is common fennel (Foeniculum vulgaris). Grown in a hot, dry, sunny spot, wild fennel stalks and leaves add incomparable flavor to fish. Its sweet/peppery note of anise in indispensable to a real bouillabaisse, for example, or for grilling a sea bass over the coals of a wood fire. Unless you live in California, you're unlikely to be blessed with wild fennel in your area. But don't be discouraged. Just plant the seed in a dry, hot spot in your garden and you'll be blessed with not only its inimitable flavor but its sunny umbels of yellow blossoms (photo right) as well.



Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis, photo below left) is another wild French herb that will grace your garden with color. In late June or early July, hyssop blooms with six-inch spikes of intense blue-violet blossoms that butterflies adore. If your soil is too heavy to grow lavender successfully, try hyssop instead for a similar flower color. The blossoms are delicious sprinkled over a salad of garden-fresh, thin French beans. Which reminds me to point out that all culinary herb blossoms are edible!



Borage (Borago officinalis, photo right) is an easy-to-grow plant that is native to most of France. It has hairy leaves with a cucumbery flavor which is best enjoyed in soup. I appreciate it as well for its starry blue flowers which are as lovely scattered over a salad or floating as a garnish in soup as they are in the garden.







Honeybees love borage, as well as thyme and many other herb blossoms. Don't confuse honeybees, which are nonaggressive, with yellow-jackets and hornets. Honeybees should be treasured in the garden. Remember, they're making honey somewhere (and herb honeys are some of the world's best), as well as providing valuable pollination in the vegetable and fruit gardens.



To me, even the lacy white umbels of humble coriander (right) are beautiful, especially when I consider how many beneficial insects they attract. The blossoms of many herbal plants--especially those with lots of small parts (parsley, coriander, thyme, fennel, dill) are irresistable to otherwise elusive beneficial bugs, which will thus be on hand to wage organic warfare on your garden pests.

In the big perennial garden behind our house in Normandie, one of the earliest plants to bloom is dyer's woad (Isatis tinctoria, photo below left), called pastel in France. I always look forward to its clouds of chartreuse yellow blossoms in mid-May. If you travel through southern France in March and April, you will doubtless notice its airy wands of flowers over blue-gray foliage in meadows and along roadsides.

Woad paradoxically yields a rich blue dye. In the days before synthetic chemical dyes, there was a sizable dye industry centered around Toulouse based uniquely on this plant.



In midsummer, I strip its shiny black seeds off by the handfuls to scatter in our wildflower meadow. Isatis, a carefree biennial, needs no more planting than that to reward you with its cheery yellow flowers next spring.

When I look around my garden, I realize that herbal blossoms know no boundaries. Herbs are flowering bountifully not only in my herb garden, but among my perennials, under my roses (thymes are one of the best underplantings for roses), in the meadow among the fruit trees, in my perennial garden--all over my microcosm of the natural garden that is France.

Share

Products of Interest:
Average to dry soils--Wild borage
Average soils--Wild coriander
Average to wet soils--Valerian
Average to dry soils--Hyssop