Herbs Gardens | Virtual Garden Designer

As a garden design element, specific herbs would fit into a category that is consistent with the purpose or intent of the particular garden space. The garden may have a theme such as a kitchen garden in which many herbs and plants are grown for the purpose of utilizing their parts in culinary uses.

Generally speaking, an ‘Herb’ is a term used to describe various types of plants in other than botanical nomenclature or ornamental uses. An herb typically falls into one or more of these categories:

A garden could also be centered on the theme of fragrance. The scents of many plants/herbs provide intense reaction that has mind- body- spirit benefits. The scent of an herb such as Lavender for example is relaxing, calming, soothing. Eucalyptus is stimulating. Some herbs can elicit emotional responses such as uplifting the spirit, (countering depression), happiness and joy.

The sense of smell is one of our five senses along with taste, touch, sight, sound. As we trigger any one of our senses, our bodies react in myriad ways either in positive, negative or neutral response. Pungent or decaying smells are offensive and tell our bodies to avoid, for they may make us nauseous. Other smells tell us not to eat the plant as it may be poisonous. Others are beneficially fragrant and bring us a multitude of benefits and we therefore welcome those smells.

Since plants can affect our other senses of sight, sound, taste and touch, we can in turn create another theme based on the sensory input created from the use of selected plants as a ‘Sensory Garden’.

The primary sense however that elicits the greatest response is the sight of the plant, its form, texture, color, flower. Together with its character, its gracefulness, solidity, delicateness, etc. all contributes to its visual attraction. The attribute of fragrance is really a bonus, unless the primary theme of the garden is for aroma. In this case, the physical form of the planting may not be as critical. A good design however, will combine the two so one does not see or smell the garden as fitting into one theme or another.

Within the context of the ‘herb garden’ which by now you can see can be quite broad once we parse all the aspects of plant uses, whether they be for aesthetic or practical uses, we can look at individual plant species not so much as herbs, but what we intend to use them for.

Let’s take Rosemary prostratus (Trailing Rosemary) as an example. I may use it to drape over a low stone wall since it looks good in rock gardens and stone textures. I may use it as a high mounding ground cover as foreground border in a hot sunny exposure. It may be used as a solitary accent planting in a container outside my kitchen door for use in cooking. It may be grown along the edge of patio entrance encouraged to creep into the path so as to get crushed by footsteps and thereby releasing its aromatic scent. Lastly, I may use it to provide something with a blue flower during the winter months.

You can see from this one example that plants can have many uses. Since there are so many plants available in our designer’s palette, choosing which ones are appropriate can be overwhelming. Narrowing down the purpose helps greatly, so the concept of selecting a theme helps to sort out our choices. Especially if we wanted an herb garden that attracted butterflies. In this case, we may not look at our garden as an herb garden that was butterfly-friendly so much as a butterfly garden that happens to have some herb plants within it.

So from a design perspective, what we call our garden is very important, as it implies what the purpose and use will be, which then dictates the entire design process and what the garden will look like.

A garden design however does not have to be called a name or have a particular theme. Most ‘gardens’ do fit into some sort of theme however, whereas when one calls their space their ‘yard’ or ‘backyard ‘landscaping’, a particular theme is not necessarily implied. Thus the use of the term garden implies that some theme or special feeling is intended.

An ‘Aromatherapy’ garden brings with it a deeper level of meaning. Not just is it a garden with fragrance, but the grouping of scents and aromas may be designed in such as way that brings about a specific emotional, mental or spiritual response, i.e. is therapeutic. The grouping is like a cocktail drug, using several different species to create the same end result. This end result may be some type of healing response. So now, we have yet another theme: the Healing Garden….

I choose to separate the two types of gardens into Healing Gardens and Aroma Gardens. I use Healing Gardens for specific uses where there is a distinct need to heal something that has an ailment, is wounded in some way or is not in harmony, or at ease, in dis-ease in some way.

To me, words are powerful. As thoughts are things, words give power to the thought behind them. Stating that something is ‘healing’ gives recognition and validity to the fact that something is wounded. This concept is congruent with my belief that all gardens have a sacredness that if tapped, can be immensely beneficial to one’s self in mind, body, and spirit. Why not call such gardens ‘Wellness Gardens’ or ‘Prosperity Gardens’? I like prosperity gardens better, as wellness has too much of a corporate identification.

To declare that you are going to design and build a healing garden or an aromatherapy garden does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with you, or that you need special treatment.

People are used to going to doctors, holistic practitioners, physical therapists, massage therapists counselors etc. - all fitting into the category of the ‘healing professions’. The system is designed to fix your problems rather than prevent it. Preventative medicine is rare these days. Probably because it relies on personal responsibility and the healing professional does not get paid to educate people as much as they do in treating their ailments.

Being in and around a garden is great preventative medicine, and as such, is therapeutic. Our minds, our thoughts are not always running in a perfect mode. the garden can heal our thoughts, make us feel better, get our thoughts figured out, come to decisions, all things we may otherwise seek out a professional to assist.

John Stuart Leslie is creator and founder of Virtual Garden Designer. Now you can work with an experienced landscape desiger online to have your garden or landscape designed professionally with ease and convenience. He holds a Master's degree in Landscape Architecture and has been a landscape designer and contractor for over 20 years.