Herbs are low-maintenance, drought-tolerant and fragrant plants which make wonderful container specimens. If you are a cook, it is imperative to the success of your recipes to have access to a steady supply of fresh herbs to delight the palates of those for whom you cook. Growing herbs in containers is also a way to limit the spread of otherwise excellent herbs that, if grown unchecked in a planting bed, will eat the garden for dinner and leave you holding the bill.

I grow several different kinds of herbs in my garden in Camas. One that is winter hardy here is Italian flat-leaf parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. neapolitanum). I grow it from seed, with repeat seedings every four weeks to keep new plants coming. The taste of flat-leaf parsley is excellent for cooking, and I find it attractive even after the stems have grown tall and gone to flower. The flowers, which resemble a chartreuse version of Queen Anne's lace, are great fillers for cut flower arrangements. For contrast, I like to position these plants next to something purple, like a large catmint (Nepeta), or blue, such as 'Johnson's Blue' hardy geranium. This herb, if allowed to flower and go to seed, will self-seed with abandon throughout your garden. This doesn't bother me, because I use a lot of parsley in my cooking, and it gives me the opportunity to replace older plants with new fresh upstarts without having to do the work of starting and tending the seeds myself.

Another easy-to-grow herb is sage. I grow two types: Salvia officinalis 'Purpurea' and Golden variegated sage 'Icterina.' The newer growth of the purple sage is a dark purple. As it matures the leaves turn dark green, retaining a dark purple stem and veining. The leaves of variegated sage have a green center surrounded by a soft yellow edge. Not only are both of these herbs great for cooking, their gorgeous colors blend well with other plants in the garden. I grow the purple sage next to a medicinal herb called Feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium). Feverfew has chartreuse leaves and tiny daisy-like white flowers. To this, I add Golden creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'), allowing it to spill over the edge of the container. Variegated sage is striking next to catmint or annual blue bachelor's buttons or cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus). Sages are considered subshrubs, and as such prefer pruning in late spring, after the first flush of growth. You can then ascertain what is new wood and what is dead wood, and prune appropriately. They can also be pruned again to both shape the plant and deadhead it just after they finish flowering. Be sure to not cut them to the ground, but leave four or five obvious leaf nodes on each flower stem, to ensure the emergence of new growth.

A fantastic herb for containers is mint. I grow the delicious-smelling Mentha piperita cv. Chocolate mint, which has dark green leaves with burgundy stems and veining. Use leaves of Chocolate mint to decorate drinks or add it to a dish of ice cream for a delightful herbal aftertaste. Mint plants are members of the Lamiaceae family. Other members of this same family include the common decorative and flavorful herbs such as oregano, and one of oregano's genus members, Golden marjoram (Origanum vulgare aureum). All these plants have the characteristic of highly invasive, long-running roots, so it works well to grow them in containers, keeping them in bounds. You can even put them in plastic pots and sink the pots into the ground so the rims are even with the soil line. This helps to keep the plants in check within a garden bed setting. They will also grow successfully in those difficult spots known as "hell strips," the curb planting areas surrounded by the cement sidewalk and the asphalt street, where only the tough survive.

A favorite decorative herb is borage (Borago officinalis), which is usually grown for its sky-blue edible flowers. It also has distinctive fuzzy grey-green leaves. I learned of this plant during a college summer job, working in a Tex-Mex restaurant. We used organically grown, pesticide-free borage flowers, grown in an herb garden behind the restaurant, to decorate the whipped cream used in desserts, to glorious effect. To pick the flowers, hold onto the dark center and pull outward to release the flower from the stem, and expose the flower's white star-shaped center. Borage does self-seed rampantly, but its roots are not invasive, so it's easy to keep it under control.

Two other aromatic herbs suitable for container growing are winter savory (Satureja montana) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris). There is also an annual summer savory, which can be started in containers from seed. I've had better success growing the perennial Winter variety. The small blade-shaped green leaves of savory can be stripped from the stem, and chopped up for recipes such as tapanade, a spicy blend of chopped Kalamata or Picholine olives, anchovies, capers, garlic, cayenne pepper and olive oil. Try this spread on good sourdough bread with sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese for the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich. The next time you're roasting a chicken for a long Sunday dinner, try putting a quartered lemon and garlic cloves into the cavity, then fill up the remaining space with sprigs of thyme, and roast to herbal perfection. To keep the aromatic leaf production strong on both winter savory and thyme plants, keep the flowers cut off.

If you have a sunny entryway and need a tall columnar-shaped plant to fill the space, 'Tuscan Blue' rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis 'Tuscan Blue') might be an edible possibility. This rosemary has an upright habit and can grow to five or six feet tall. Blessed with vibrant violet-blue flowers in spring, and evergreen foliage, it's a great culinary classic to have in your garden and grows well in a large container.

My favorite summertime herb is basil (Ocimum basilicum). I start my plants from seed every spring. Two excellent varieties for cooking are 'Genovese' and 'Italian Sweet.' Unlike Greek basil (Ocimum basilicum var. minimum 'Spicy Globe'), these produce large, fragrant leaves. While these herbs are fresh, you can dry the leaves for use in winter, or you can pluck leaves from the stems and freeze them in plastic bags. Freezing will discolor the leaves, but the taste will be like summer, and they make an appetizing addition to winter marinara sauces.

All the aforementioned plants thrive in full sun and with little or no added fertilizer. Herbs make delicious and decorative container plants, and several containers of herbs can be grouped together around a sunny patio or on stairs near your kitchen, so their interesting flavors can easily be added to your summer menus.

All content copyright 2007-2011 Minerva's Garden