Those of us with green thumbs may feel a bit of the winter blues once the first hard frost hits. Though the tender sprigs of our favorite basil and dill may look beautiful as the dawn strikes their fatally crystallized leaves, we know that soon those formerly verdant garden beds will be shriveled into a lifeless, dried-out shadow of their summer-growing glory.
But not every garden is reduced to nothing when the short days and cold weather strikes. Look under those glossy brown oak leaves. Do you see the bright green blades of chives, laughing through the icy wind? Or over here…can you smell the mint bravely clinging on?
The oregano, thyme, and lavender are hunkered down under the weight of the snow, but there’s still fragrant life left, close to the ground. As I glance over my garden, I find that I don’t feel quite so cold because, with perennial herbs, your garden isn’t ever really dead. No, winter is merely a pause, not an end, for these useful and long-lived plants.
A few perennial herbs you should consider growing for year-round use include:
- Chives
- Oregano
- Lavender
- Thyme
- Mint
Chives
I’m fairly certain that my chives are the plant version of superheroes—they just don’t die. Sections of my plants have been moved through four different gardens, two different states, and through it all, they haven’t skipped a beat. Even as I write this in chilly late November, they are still bravely offering their tastiness through the piles of fallen leaves, and come spring, they’ll be one of the first plants to blossom.
With their texturally interesting sprays of grass-like leaves and lovely pom-poms of edible purple-pink flowers,these generous plants将是一个奇妙的和无忧无虑的添加到任何花园3-10区。它们喜欢阳光充足的土壤和沙质土壤,但如果允许的话,它们几乎会在任何地方播种。有一年,我发现我的韭菜长在露台砖缝里!
If you leave them to themselves, these petite members of the onion family will spread themselves through your garden quite liberally! Thankfully, if you find yourself with a surplus, you can freeze chives for later use.Parmesan chive butter, anyone?
Oregano
Essential to Italian, Greek, and Mexican dishes, this hardy member of the mint family can take winter’s lickin’ and keep on tickin’. One of my fond memories of my childhood backyard was the huge oregano patch that somehow escaped the garden and became an integral part of our lawn.
Every time my dad mowed the lawn, the air smelled amazing! Oregano is not a fussy plant, as you may imagine. Happy infull sun or partial shade in Zones 5-10, this herb does well in pretty much any soil. Well-draining soil, however, will keep its flavors pungent. If you, too, find your yard invaded by oregano’s spreading runners, (a happy problem, in my opinion) you’ll find yourself in the enviable position of having plenty of oregano todehydrate for later use. It’s one of the leafy herbs that doesn’t suffer too much from being dried.
Lavender
Lavender is probably one of the most useful perennials you could grow, in this humble homesteader’s opinion. Beautiful, medicinal, delicious, and a bee and butterfly magnet, this silvery-leaved, fragrant plant is the Swiss army knife of herbs.
Lavender isn’t a fussy plant. Just give it a sunny place with fairly decent soil, and let it do its thing. In fact, it is so drought-tolerant and hardy that it may actually be harmed from overzealous watering or heavy fertilizing. Gardens inZones 5-10can enjoy the year-round company of lavender, but they’ll take different forms in different areas.
在温暖的气候中,它们可以长到灌木的大小,但在寒冷的气候中,它们的身材会更像草本植物。然而,无论它们有多高,它们浅紫蓝色的花朵无论是新鲜的还是干燥的,都将是对家园的奇妙补充。
There are a few varieties of lavender to consider. On our homestead,we’re growing the Munstead strainas an edible and beautiful border around our mulberry grove. It’s supposed to be among the hardiest and most cold-tolerant of the lavender, and will only grow to about a foot in height.
Thyme
百里香满足于生长在干燥、荒芜的地方和多石的土壤中,仅因为它无忧无虑的本性和美丽的外表就值得种植。但这种耐旱的小植物有大量的药用和烹饪用途。If you have abrick wall or a paved walkway in Zones 2-10, you can tuck thyme away there for years of effortless beauty and fragrance.
I’m fascinated by justhow many varieties of thymethere are to play with. The array of colors, heights, and scents is so wide, you could plant an entire garden with only varieties of thyme, and it would be well worth your while.
This low-lying herb is tough enough to even put up with occasional foot traffic—we’re going to be planting it around the paving stones and walkways of our homestead this spring. Can you imagine how lovely it would be to stroll through athyme rock garden, aromas being gently released with every step?
Mint
You knew that you couldn’t read an article about perennial herbs without mint getting a mention. Like the proverbial post-apocalyptic cockroach, I’m pretty sure there’s very little that could destroy a patch of mint. On our homestead, however, that’s a good thing! We have several native and domestic varieties of this huge family gracing the hills around our barn and outdoor kitchen, and all are useful for making tea and seasoning food.
The wild ones that have made it into our kitchen includepennyroyal,wild bergamot,slender mountain mint, andbeefsteak plant/shisho—种植它们就像不割田里的“杂草”一样简单。如果你有一些土地,我打赌你一定有一株多年生野生薄荷正等着你去发现——你总是可以通过它们熟悉的气味和方形的茎来辨别它们。
As far as domestic mint goes, it isn’t much pickier than it’s wild counterparts.These hardy plants thrive on neglect, often needing to be planted in an underground pot if their weed-like spread is to be minimized. Plant them in Zones 5-9 in full sun and get ready for the tide of useful leaves and bee-friendly blossoms to be unleashed!
不过,这个列表仅仅是开始。一旦你开始种植这些优雅的多年生植物,你可能不会停止——还有很多东西等着你去探索。我喜欢每年都在花园的花圃里种上一些长寿的植物,每当冬天一过,我看到它们又恢复了生机,就像见到了一位老朋友。这五种是我最喜欢的——你的花园里最主要的多年生草本植物是什么?
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