Growing these 8 easy perennial herbs will benefit you and your garden in several ways. Learn what they can do and how to care for them to make for a long-lasting addition to your home garden.
Growing perennial herbs will benefit you and your garden in several ways, but getting started can seem like a daunting task. Which plants should I choose? Where should I put it? How do I harvest it… and for what use? Let me help you simplify your decision process and give you a few reasons why you should be growing these plants in the first place.
Grow Perennial Herbs for Beauty
Consider planting certain herbs to add a specific color and texture to your flower beds as a groundcover, border, filler, or statement plant. Imagine a border with the calming gray-green of sage grown next to jewel-toned flowering annuals. Picture lavender with its straight stemmed pop of purple making a statement near low-growing, yellow or white flowering perennials. The opportunities for creating backyard beauty are endless with the addition of perennial herbs.
Perennial Herbs are Cost-Effective
These plants will save you money year after year. You can propagate cuttings off of these plants or divide and plant them in other parts of your yard. Not only that, harvesting and dehydrating the herbs during the growing season will provide you with flavorful herbs you can use year-round in your favorite recipes.
Grow Perennial Herbs as Companion Plants
Herbs make incredible companion plants in a vegetable garden. Groundcover herbs can serve as living mulch to help reduce the instances of soil splash. Many perennial herbs attract pollinators and deter destructive insects from the area. Using them is a great way to help your garden flourish. Check out this post to learn more about companion planting with annual and perennial herbs.
Perennial Herbs are Low Maintenance
These 8 easy-to-grow perennial herbs, once established, require much less work and maintenance than annual herbs. Learn more about how to care for, harvest, and use these plants below.
8 Easy Perennial Herbs to Grow in Your Home Garden
Oregano
- Perennial in zones 4-10
- Mature size: 1-2 feet tall & 1.5 feet wide
- Full sun & well-drained soil
Oregano makes a wonderful plant to serve as a groundcover as it naturally grows in the shape of a low mound. It is a natural all-around pest deterrent, and makes a great companion plant for peppers, eggplant, squash, beans, and brassicas.
Growing Tip: In early spring, cut the woody stems back to the base of the plant to encourage new growth. Divide the plant in the early spring every 2 to 4 years to keep it in its best shape. In midsummer, let the plant flower for local pollinators or cut it back completely encourage fresh new leaves.
Harvest Tip: Harvest the leaves whenever you need them. If you’re wanting the stems for drying, harvest them before the flower buds form in mid-to late summer.
Try It in the Kitchen: Oregano is peppery and sweet. Use it to season your eggs, white meat, fish, marinades, vegetables, tomato-based recipes, and more.
Lavender
- Perennial in zones 5-9
- Mature Size: 2-3 feet tall & 2-4 feet wide
- Requires full sun & well-draining soil
There is nothing like walking past the lavender in the herb garden in the summer. Once it’s established, it’s a fragrant, beautiful, drought-resistant compact shrub. Still, it grows best when the weather cooperates. Lavender doesn’t like having “wet feet” and the plant can be killed easily due to being waterlogged. Because of this, it is not the right plant to use on a garden border or to rely on as a hedge.
Lavender would make a great companion plant in your garden. It is a pollinator magnet and naturally deters most pests thanks to its potent scent.
Growing Tip: If you’re growing lavender for culinary purposes, you should grow the Lavandula angustifolia variety. Lavender needs plenty of space between it and other plants for good airflow. Prune dead stems back to the base of the plant in the early spring.
Harvest Tip: The best time to harvest lavender is in the morning. Cut the lavender stems at about 2/3 the height of the stem for drying when only a few of the buds on the stem have bloomed.
Try It in the Kitchen: Less is more with the intense flavor of lavender. Make simple syrup with the flowers to flavor your favorite summer beverages. Try adding a bit of dried flowers to fruits dishes or light desserts. Check out this post from Bon Appetit about using culinary lavender for more ideas.
Rosemary
- Perennial in zones 7-10 (move indoors for the winter if growing in zones less than 7)
- Mature size: 2-6 feet tall, 2-4 feet wide
- Full sun & well-drained soil
Rosemary is a wonderful multi-use herb to have in the garden. It has a calming pine scent and is a pollinator magnet when in full bloom. Rosemary deters pests like beetles, carrot flies, and cabbage moths, so use it as a companion plant for brassicas, beans, garlic, or carrots.
Growing Tip: Simply give rosemary its space to encourage good air flow if you live in a humid area, as too much humidity can boost fungal growth. Like lavender, rosemary hates having “wet feet”, so well-draining soil is a must.
Harvest Tip: To enjoy fresh sprigs of rosemary, take regular cuttings from the plant in the spring and summer. Doing so will encourage new growth which means more rosemary to harvest. If you’re harvesting rosemary for drying, wait to harvest until just before it starts to bloom.
Try It in the Kitchen: According to the University of Arkansas Extension, “The culinary uses for rosemary are endless; add fresh rosemary to omelets and frittatas; when roasting chicken; work into dough; add to soups and tomato sauces; toss late summer stems onto grilling coals to infuse meat with delicious flavor; toss it with fresh vegetables then grill or use the rosemary sprig as a skewer for grilling fresh vegetables and meat.”
Yarrow
- Perennial in zones 2-9
- Mature size: 2-3 feet tall, 2-3 feet wide
- Full sun & well-draining soil
Yarrow makes a fantastic ground cover, grows well pretty much everywhere in the USA, and is extremely drought tolerant. There are several varieties of yarrow available with blooms of many colors- purple, white, pink, yellow, orange, red, or multi-colored. Blooming or not, yarrow is beautiful most of the year thanks to its dense, fern-like foliage. Pollinators love it, too, so yarrow makes a great companion plant in the garden.
Growing Tip: Growing yarrow requires very little effort. Wild yarrow grows (and thrives) in temperate climates all over the world. It transplants extremely well and spreads rapidly. Divide parts of your yarrow in early spring and share parts of your wonderful plant with friends and neighbors.
Harvest Tip: When they’re starting to flower, cut yarrow a few inches above the base. Separate the flowers and leaves from the stalk and dry it for storage.
Try It in the Home: Dried yarrow is a must-have for a home first-aid kit. Used as a poultice, it can be applied to wounds and cuts to stop bleeding. (It really works!) Check out this article for more information about this powerful plant.
Lemon Balm
- Perennial in zones 4-9
- Mature size: 2 feet tall & 2 feet wide
- Full sun & well-draining soil
It smells good, it looks good, and it’s easy to grow. What could be better?! Lemon balm has beautiful greenish gold leaves that add a beautiful touch of color to gardens (try it as a border plant!) It works great as a companion plant as it can help repel mosquitoes, aphids, flies, and fleas.
Growing Tip: In the early spring, dig around the plant edges and remove unwanted growth. Lemon balm self-sows rapidly. Clip the stems after flowering (before they set seed) and the plant will produce new growth.
Harvest Tip: During the spring and summer, you can harvest the leaves in the morning regularly on a weekly basis.
Try It in the Kitchen: Lemon Balm leaves brings a taste of lemon to your favorite summer beverages. Add it to chicken or fruit dishes to brighten up the flavor.
Chives
- Perennial in growing zones 3-9
- Mature size: 1-1.5 feet tall, 1-1.5 feet wide
- Full sun & well-draining soil
I absolutely love having chives in the garden. They add just the right touch of onion flavor to a lot of our family’s favorite summer dishes. The flowers on chives are a favorite of pollinators, and they have a tendency to deter aphids from the garden. Used as a companion plant, the best neighbors for chives are carrots, tomatoes, dill, marjoram, parsley, and tarragon.
Growing Tip: Chives self-sow, so remove flowers before they set seed. Divide the plant every 2 to 4 years to keep it in its best shape, as it has a tendency to become overcrowded.
Harvest Tip: Let the chives grow until they’re at least 6-8 inches tall. When they’ve reached that height, harvest the leaves in the morning by cutting them about 2 inches from the base of the plant. If you’re using the flowers, simply snip the flower head off of the stem.
Try It in the Kitchen: Thinly slice chives before using in recipes for soup, dips, potatoes, fish, or egg dishes. Heat affects the onion flavor, so add them to the recipe at the last minute or use them as a garnish. Blooms are edible, too, and can be used whole or chopped.
Thyme
- Perennial in zones 5-9
- Mature size: up to 1 foot tall and wide
- Full sun & well-draining soil
Thyme makes a great groundcover because it grows in the shape of a low mound. It has woody stems, small leaves, and little purple to pink flowers that pollinators love. You’ll definitely want more than one plant- fortunately for all of us there are many different varieties of thyme available!
Thyme deters cabbage worms, mosquitoes, aphids, fleas, and flies. Use it in the garden as a companion plant for brassicas, basil, chives, dill, lavender, oregano, parsley, rosemary, and sage.
Growing Tip: Divide the plant every 2 to 4 years to keep it fresh and producing well.
Harvest Tip: Harvest in the morning at any point during the growing season, although it is best to harvest in early summer. Only cut the leafy stems (not the older parts) to encourage fresh growth.
Try It in the Kitchen: Thyme leaves add a distinct flavor (fresh or dried) to a variety of dishes just like oregano. Add a bit to pasta, bread dough, soup, vegetables, tomato-based recipes, meat dishes, and more.
Sage
- Perennial in growing zones 4-8
- Mature size: 2 feet tall & 2-3 feet wide
- Full sun & well-draining soil
There’s nothing like sage in the garden- it adds its own flair to the garden border and consistently catches my eye. Pollinators love the purple blooms, and the leaves have a unique, bumpy texture. There are several varieties with different colored foliage available.
Sage deters carrot flies, mosquitoes, aphids, flies and fleas. Use it as a companion plant for brassicas, carrots, lettuce, beans, lavender, oregano, parsley, rosemary, and tarragon.
Growing Tip: Sage is another plant that hates “wet feet” so good drainage is a must. In the spring, prune each stem back 1/3 of the length to encourage bushier growth. Divide the plant every 2 to 4 years to keep it in its best shape and producing well.
Harvest Tip: Best picked in spring and summer before the sage begins flowering, harvest leaves in the morning.
Try It in the Kitchen: Sage adds a delicious flavor to recipes for poultry, pork, vegetables, stuffing, and more.
FAQ
What is the quickest herb to grow?
Under the right conditions, I’ve found that chives are the fastest growing perennial herb and they are ready to harvest quickly.
What herbs grow well together?
When planted with intentional space between to promote airflow and good root development, all of the perennials listed in this post will grow well together as they all require similar growing conditions.
Mixing annuals to your perennial herb garden is where it gets tricky. Scroll to the bottom of this post for a great article about herbs that shouldn’t be planted together.
Where to plant an herb garden?
The herbs on this list need full sun and well-draining soil. Find the best location using our sun mapping guide (linked below) and then you can creatively start planting! You could plant them close to the entrance of your home for easy access to fresh ingredients, tucked into the vegetable garden to be used as companion plants, or mixed in with your landscaping to add different colors and textures to your flower garden.
Related Posts
- How to Do Sun Mapping
- How to Remove Grass to Prepare for a New Garden (No Digging!)
- Using Companion Plants in the Garden
- Herbs That Shouldn’t Be Planted Together
