kylaluaz said:@Catmint20906, wow. I has a jealous!

I've never grown either germander or pennyroyal. All the rest are old friends.

@Newyorkrita, good idea about Nasturtiums. I wonder how they'd do here. When I lived on the NC coast it was too hot for them to do really well but it's a bit cooler here so, that's worth a try. (That was the first time I was ever aware it could be too HOT for a plant! )

I grow them every year as I just love the flowers. By the way, hummingbirds like the flowers also.

Hi everybody, I'm enjoying catching up on this thread.

I have:
Spearmint and chocolate mint, contained
3 kinds of basil
Sage
Rosemary
Both parsleys
Chives
Nasturtium

Not as much yet as I had in last garden, but this is my first year here. The strange thing is I almost never use them to cook or make medicine.

Me, either. I just like them.

I love my herbs but always feel a little guilty that I don't use them for culinary purposes. I keep hoping someone will show up at my door and say, 'hey, mind if I harvest your herbs before the first frost takes them?'

I eat mine...when I think of it, but the best use I've found for a lot of them are using them as repellants for naughty critters, attractants for helpful critters, and the mint...well, clipping and tossing that lovely and rampantly growing stuff, at each and every available (seedless and rootless) opportunity, makes for a great (free!) soil enrichment aid as well.

That's why I like them, too, Chelle--the good bugs they attract, and the many unpleasant ones they help to repel! They also smell good!

Especially when watered or just after rain.

Chelle, I've noted that too about mint. The best compost I've ever used had lots of mint in it- the garden responded as though I had fertilized. Mints also deter rodents, and I've found Lilies growing with the mints tend to remain safe from voles.

I've always heard that herbs are great in the compost. I used to grow comfrey close to the compost so I could add lots of those rich leaves.

Like you, herbs are a must for me in my garden. Although, i only have Parsley, Sage and basil but i'm looking foward to adding more herbs to my cottage garden soon.

Hi Jayz, welcome to ATP. Which herbs are you aiming to include first? (I say "first" because I've discovered it is an endless list. )

Nice to have you here, Jayz!

Jayz, welcome to ATP.

I love herbs and have grown them for many years.
I grow mint, thyme, lavender, basil, sage, marjoram, chamomile, catnip, catmint,
comfrey (great in poultices for swelling and bruising) and annually several tender
herbs that aren't hardy in Z5...and some other hardies I'm sure I've forgotten at the moment.
I especially love rosemary and grow some annually in containers because its not hardy here.
I have tried to winter them over in the house but they don't like the dry heat we have and misting didn't
seem to make much diff.
My secret ingredient in homemade chicken soup is fresh rosemary and a bit of red pepper flakes.
Imparts the most wonderful flavor!
My son calls me the Soup Nazi because I tend to make it a lot during the cold winter months.

Those pics beautifully express cottage garden charm!

my husband loves rosemary... i've got seeds coming from the "piggy swap" and can't wait to get that going. I think it can be a shrub in the south.
I do have to get my herbs going... I generally grow them for butterflies and caterpillars, though i do use a few myself.

Rosemary makes a big shrub in the south- that will be wonderful!

Vicky, I have the same problem bringing Rosemary inside, they just dry up. I've been successful a few times, but it has been irregular. Typically they'll survive a year or 2 in the ground here, but then we'll get a winter that does them in.

Terese, I get small shrubs from Rosemary. Arp formed a 3x3 spherical form (lost it after five years); and Irene makes a cascading form. Only have a photographs of Irene.

very nice!! I forgot my lavender at home too. I bet I'll be digging up more plants in the spring...