The herb garden

When I first thought of making the front garden into a herb garden, folk pooh-poohed it. Part of my original idea was that I was aware of just how much of the time our back garden is under water, or at least you have to paddle through it to get to drier parts. Herbs I regard as essential for any enthusiastic cook. They provide such a wide range of extra taste sensations.

I went ahead and planted the garden. Now I look out & am glad I did.

The highlight at the moment are the clear bright simple daisy flowers of the chicory. Behind them is the tall feathery bright green of the fennel. Just beyond that fennel is a bronze fennel bringing with it a change of colour to a browner colour. To the right of the chicory is a mass of tiny white flowers on the coriander. In front of the chicory itself is the curry plant, full of yellow flowers & grey-green leaves. Then as you go left you come to a great stand of pink flowered chives. Peeping through the chives & curry plant are the purples of the lavender & the purple sage. Next to the purple sage is another sage, variegated this time with green & yellow leaves. Beyond that is the rosemary with their spiky leathery leaves. The sage bushes are also wrapping protectively around the bay tree. Further left still you come to the deep blue flowers of the borage and the mauvey white flowers of the yellow-green leaved oregano. Then there's the mint. Other herbs are scattered throughout - tarragon, bergamot, garlic chives, lemon thyme, chervil, lemon balm to name but a few. In places there are little patches of violas happily waving their smiling faces.

Throughout the year new things catch your eye. In the early spring there were the crocuses. Next year I'm hoping the snowdrops I transferred this spring will come up. Then came the brightly variegated leaves of the lemon balm, all yellow & green. The colour seems to be less vibrant as the summer progresses. In the early summer the reddish buds on the attractively leaved salad burnet starred. Soon the fennel will be spreading out its great umbels of golden flowers & hopefully the red flowers of the bergamot will appear. Bergamot is a new plant this year. I hope it takes & thrives. The nasturtiums will hopefully soon be cascading over the walls with their orange and red blooms.

Some plants have been casualties.The echinacea of last year doesn't seem to have survived the harsh winter. Equally the horizontal rosemary quickly gave up, not too big a disaster as the more usual bushy variety have kept growing year after year.

Some plants on the other hand have surprised me with their resilience. The tarragon plant, an annual, must have self-seeded itself. This year it not only reappeared, it is flourishing into quite a little clump. Oh, and I do love its aniseed flavour, especially with chicken. For that matter I'm surprised that the violas are still flowering even though I planted them last autumn & they've shown their faces ever since.

I am not the only appreciator of the garden. The bees are constantly buzzing around, hairy bums half sticky out of flowers.

All in all I'm pleased with my herb garden. Not only does it provide us with loads of extra flavours for our meals, they are also a visual & olfactory delight. Step outside on a hot summer's day, as we're having at the moment, & the scent of curry wafts across. Not only is there colour in the various flowers, there is colour & texture in the various leaves. Plenty of variety & interest, as well as usefulness, throughout the year.