HERBS, FLAVORFUL, FRAGRANT and colorful, are some of the most enchanting and useful plants in the garden.
Modern herb gardens tend to focus on culinary uses, but herbs are a wonderful way to expand the plant palette because not only are they useful to humans, many also produce flowers that attract pollinating insects. Herbs can be added in the design of many types of perennial gardens.
The history and lure of herbs are as intriguing as the scents and flavors they bring to the gardener who harvests them for their culinary or medicinal uses.
The story that unfolds for each herb tells of its powers and properties in the history of medicine. The Chelsea Physic Garden in England was founded in 1673 to research the potential medicinal value of these native and newly introduced exotic plants.
One of its primary goals was correct identification of plants because without this, someone either could be poisoned or treated with the wrong remedy.
Two gardens at Heather Farm feature many herbs. The Sensory Garden is filled with a variety of herbs, and the former Children’s Garden recently has been planted with herbs.
Probably one of visitors’ all-time favorites — popular because of its intoxicating lemon scent and flavor — is Aloysia triphylla, also known as lemon verbena.
This deciduous shrub from Argentina and Chile has slender, oval, pointed leaves that release a very strong lemon scents when rubbed. In the summer, sprays of tiny lilac-colored flowers add to the beauty of this herb.
The intense lemon scent has brought joy to many a gardener since Victorian times when it was simply known as “the lemon plant.” In its native habitat it can reach a height of 10 feet, but in the Sensory Garden, it is about 5 feet. It has also been pruned in such a way that it looks like a small tree rather a multibranched shrub.
Lemon verbena was introduced into cultivation in the late 18th century from Chile. It is grown for commercial purposes in France, Algeria and Tunisia.
Historically, its medicinal properties included relief of spasms in the digestive tract, relieving tension and reducing fevers. Because it is hard to extract the oils, it is very expensive to purchase. It is mainly used in perfumes, although the leaves when used fresh or dried in tea, sauces or cakes have an exceptional lemon flavor.
Lemon verbena is frost tender, but it has never had a problem at the Gardens at Heather Farm with our winter temperatures. It is very easy to maintain. Once it leafs out in the spring, pruning is done lightly to remove any dead branches and weak growth. It is growing in full hot sun, watered deeply twice a week and composted each spring.
Patrice Hanlon, garden manager at Walnut Creek’s Gardens at Heather Farm, writes about plants that grow well in the fertile Bay Area. For more information about the Gardens at Heather Farm, go to www.gardenshf.org, or visit in person at 1540 Marchbanks Drive, Walnut Creek.
