Informal Herb Garden

This gives the gardener more freedom to experiment with different colour schemes. Try a variety of coloured herbs together to create a dramatic effect. Make sure that tall plants are not smothering smaller varieties. The informal herb garden does not have any specifically designed structure, it is basically a queston of using initiative and placing aesthetically pleasing coloured herbs together. For example purple and silver herbs together, and red and green herbs together. It is also a good idea to experiment with differently textured leaves in an informal garden.

When designing your informal herb garden, to make it easier for you, you may choose to group plants together by plant type (annuals biennials, and perennials), you may also choose to group plants together that require the same amount of water, soil, sunlight or shade.  Furthermore, you may choose to organize your garden by culinary herbs, medicinal, or aromatic herbs. Some people choose to design according to flowers, specific colors, foliage (height, colors and varieties), plant size, etc.  It is totally up to the designer’s individual preference. Remember, since this is an informal garden you can place and group things as organized or chaotic as you like as long as you understand it that’s what will matter

Regardless of whether the herb garden is formal or informal, always remember to provide pathways or stepping-stones for access!

Formal Herb Garden

 There are lots of possible designs for formal herb gardens. Take into account the size of the area available, and the location - shaded / partial shade / direct sunlight, when planning the design. Designs are normally based on geometric patterns, such as a cartwheel shape, or a square with a diamond shape in the centre.

Each individual section of the design should be planted with one variety of herb to give a block of bold colour. This type of herb garden is best suited to small to medium sized herbs, as taller herbs will spoil the design once fully grown.

Formal herb gardens are created by using repeated geometric shapes to separate growing areas. Plant beds may have perennial borders around them of rosemary or boxwood or other woody perennials. The individual planting beds are devoted to either annual or perennial herbs. Annuals include basil, dill and summer savory. Perennials herbs such as tarragon, mint, rosemary and thyme are often grown separately.