Are there any herbs that you kind of adore?  For me, that herb is basil.  Not only do I love the smell of it, I also love that there are about a bazillion different kinds.  This year, I went and planted me an entire herb garden of just basil.  Crazy, huh?

It’s a great idea for container planting; I used an old strawberry pot, which I find works much better for herbs than for strawberries.  Here’s how my basil garden shaped up:

Here’s what I’ve got in there, starting in the main section on the top and going around clockwise: “Dark Opal” purple basil; sweet Italian large leaf basil; “Thai Magic” basil; spicy bush basil; and “Mrs. Burns” lemon basil.  What you don’t see around the back is Greek columnar basil and cinnamon basil.  Did you know there were that many types of basil?  And I purchased them all as seedlings at a nursery.  You can grow even more, and more exotic, types if you order them as seed.

If you’re interested in trying a single-herb garden, might I suggest a few herbs that have some lovely variants?  I think basil is the most easily sourced, but you could also try:

Sage:

• variegated sage, or tricolor garden sage
• purple sage (I’ve got one of these this year)
• pineapple sage (I bought one of these, too, and it’s doing fanstastically)
• Berrgarten sage (very big leaves)
• white sage

You can get various combinations of these herbs at Mountain Valley Growers, Johnny’s Selected Seeds or through your local garden center.

Oregano:

• sweet marjoram (I’m still confused about the relationship between marjoram and oregano, but apparently all marjorams are oreganos, if that clears it up at all)
• golden oregano
• Greek oregano
• variegated oregano
• Italian oregano

These are available from Pantry Garden Herbs and your local nursery.

Mint:

• spearmint
• peppermint
• pineapple mint
• chocolate mint
• English mint
• apple mint
• basil mint
• Moroccan mint
• Egyptian mint
• … and the list goes on

There are 16 varieties available at Mountain Valley Growers, and your local garden shop should have a good selection as well.

These are just a few suggestions.  There are plenty of other herbs that come in many varieties, like thyme or lavender, that you can plant in a single-herb garden.

Are you going to try planting multiple varieties of one kind of herb?

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