Container Herbs
Ornamental Spots Herbs need not be confined to their own garden -- or to any bed or border, for that matter. Give herbs a cozy home in a container and they'll reward you with their many charms. As both ornamental and practical displays, herbs in containers present options that you wouldn't have otherwise. Above all, potted herbs are portable. Place them where there is no room to garden. Use potted herbs to fill in empty spots in the garden or to decorate an indoor living area. Keep containers of herbs on stoops and steps for convenient harvest.
Practicalities Tender perennials and tropicals that won't tolerate cold weather, such as rosemary, bay, lemongrass, and ginger, look great in pots and are easy to move indoors over winter. Containers let you grow herbs year-round, indoors or outdoors, in combinations as changeable as the seasons or your moods. Group herbs with similar needs for soil type, sun, and water. Contain invasive herbs, such as mint and lemon balm, to prevent them from running wild in the garden. If desired, place invasive herbs in ordinary 12-inch nursery pots and then plant them, pots and all, in the garden. Curtail the growth of other invasive herbs, such as oregano, horsetail, and comfrey, by keeping them in decorative pots and overwintering them in a protected area.
Blue-flower heliotrope adds its cherry-pie scent to an artful planting of other fragrant herbs, including rosemary, basil, and thyme. Set the container near a door and savor the scents every time you walk by.
A simple twig trellis adds a structural embellishment to a potted scented geranium. Without support, the plant would sprawl.
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