8 Beautiful Herbs to Enhance Your Flowerbeds – Create an Edimental Paradise

Discover flavorful herbs that double as ornamental plants, adding both beauty and utility to your garden. With their pretty blooms and unique foliage, these herbs seamlessly blend into any flowerbed.

Growing herbs for culinary use is rewarding, but they don’t need to be confined to the vegetable garden. Many herbs are also visually stunning and make beautiful additions to flowerbeds and container gardens. Most herbs produce lovely flowers that attract pollinators and have attractive leaves and growth habits.

Using edible plants as ornamentals is ideal for smaller yards with limited space for a dedicated vegetable patch. Many hardy evergreen herbs will persist through winter, adding much-needed greenery to the garden.

Enjoy the dual benefits of these herbs by planting them close to the kitchen, making it easy to harvest them regularly for cooking.

1. Basil

Basil is not only a culinary favorite but also a beautiful addition to any garden. While the common Sweet Genovese basil is lovely with its white flowers, other varieties offer even more diversity. Purple basil varieties have vibrant eggplant-hued leaves and stems, Cinnamon basil has green leaves with purple veins and bright purple flowers, and Cardinal basil boasts rich red blooms. Green Ruffles basil has fluted leaves, and African Blue basil features long spires of blue blooms.

Basil is an annual in most regions but can be grown indoors when temperatures drop. It requires full sun and average water, thriving in USDA zones 9-11.

2. Chamomile

Chamomile is renowned for its calming tea, but it’s also an ornamental plant with feathery leaves and cheerful white flowers with yellow centers. It prefers sandy, well-drained soil and can thrive in full sun to partial shade. Chamomile is perfect for herb gardens, annual beds, mixed with perennials, or in containers. It grows well in USDA zones 4-9.

3. Sage

Sage comes in over 1,000 species, with flowers ranging from purple to white, red, and pink. The soft leaves may be green, variegated, or gray. Sage needs well-draining soil and full sun but can tolerate some shade. It is hardy in USDA zones 5-8.

4. Allium

Alliums such as chives, garlic, leeks, and onions, produce lovely blooms in addition to their culinary uses. Garlic chives have white flower clusters, while regular chives have deep purple blooms. Alliums require well-draining soil, average fertility, and water. They are hardy in USDA zones 3-9.

5. Artemisia

Artemisia or wormwood, has a sharp evergreen scent and diverse leaf forms, from dark green to dusty gray. It prefers full sun to partial shade and consistently damp soil. Most varieties are hardy in USDA zones 3-8.

6. Catmint

Catmint features grayish-green leaves and purple flowers on arching stems. It’s irresistible to cats and a beautiful addition to borders, rockeries, and perennial gardens. Catmint requires occasional watering and deadheading and is hardy in USDA zones 3-8.

7. Borage

Borage is unique with its blue, star-shaped flowers and lightly furred stems. It requires loose soil and some shelter from intense midday sun. Borage can be grown in USDA zones 3-10.

8. Bee Balm

Bee Balm has flowers in various colors, from scarlet to lavender. It’s known for its minty flavor and attracts pollinators like bees and hummingbirds. Bee Balm is a perennial in USDA zones 4-9.

Additional Ornamental Herbs

• Thyme: Excellent ground cover with colorful spring flowers and diverse leaf forms.
• Marjoram: Grows tall with soft lavender blooms.
• Parsley: Both curly and flat-leaf varieties have attractive foliage.
• Rosemary: Features soft needle-like foliage and purple blooms, forming a large bush with a strong scent.
• Lavender: Known for its woody stems, attractive foliage, and fragrant blooms with multiple uses.