Lovely Herbs of Summer Spice up Your Yard and Kitchen

The summer flowers of garlic chives attract honeybees and other pollinators. Do you see the tiny pollinator near the honeybee? (Photo: Donna Legare)

I am writing this in July and it is hot, hot, hot. But even in September and into October, our high temperatures can remain steadily in the 90s. Despite the heat, my herbs look great.

They are planted conveniently just out the front door for ease of gathering. Rosemary, garlic chives, lemon grass, lemon balm, Greek oregano, bay laurel, and comfrey in our yard are all at least 20 years old, planted in the first few years of living in our house. Of these, I use Greek oregano the most.

Greek oregano is an aromatic perennial that can be used to season many dishes.

Greek oregano is a useful landscaping plant. I shear the new growth with scissors whenever I need some. Cut it regularly during the growing season and it will form a tight, attractive 12-inch tall shrub. In early summer it will bloom and attract honeybees, as well as an assortment of native bees and other pollinators.

I use it in zucchini tomato casserole, in a delicious marinade for chicken, in soups, and in all things Italian. I never have to buy dried oregano because this plant is prolific and provides generous amounts of aromatic oregano for all my recipes.

If a recipe calls for a teaspoon of a dried herb, substitute at least three times as much of the fresh leaves. I generally don’t measure the fresh herbs. Just be sure to use the leaves and the tender new stems as the older stems are too tough for use.

Rosemary is another great pollinator plant and is especially loved by bumble bees. This year I also watched a hummingbird drinking nectar from rosemary flowers. It is another very useful cooking herb. Use in savory dishes, such as roasted root crops (use Greek oregano here too), but also use it in cookies, cakes, and other sweets. For a cake, use three tablespoons of chopped rosemary. Delicious!

Here’s a hint: use scissors to cut the tender sprigs of rosemary that you have gathered. Avoid cutting the woody growth of your rosemary plant. Harvest the tips regularly from your plant and you will have a nicely shaped rosemary bush, approximately three feet tall.

Grow lemon balm to enhance the flavor of summer hydration

Two other herbs that look wonderful right now are comfrey and lemon balm. These are planted along the north side of our house and get good light but little direct, hot sun. They are thriving. I originally planted the comfrey in the sunny butterfly garden with rosemary and Greek oregano, but the plant struggled.

Once I moved it to a shadier spot, it took off. I have only used it once to make a poultice for a friend with a broken foot, but it is a gorgeous landscaping plant and blooms off and on in late spring through mid-summer. The lemon balm is in the mint family; I use it mostly to flavor ice water and tea. Very refreshing.

I have other herbs right now that do not have as long lives as the ones mentioned above. Fennel, both bronze and green, are quite showy and are very attractive to black swallowtails. The adult butterfly lays her eggs on fennel or rue. Fennel is considered a perennial and lasts two to three years.

Rue is a medicinal herb that usually lasts up to five years in my garden. It is a host plant for the caterpillars of black swallowtail and the giant swallowtail butterflies.

African blue basil is colorful, an excellent pollinator plant, and tasty as well.

One of the best pollinator plants in my garden is African blue basil. It is usually alive with bees and other pollinating insects. I substitute it for sweet basil, which has become difficult to grow because of a downy mildew problem.

African blue basil is stronger in flavor than sweet basil, so use less of it. It is a very pretty plant with a somewhat purplish cast to its leaves and is a prolific bloomer. Technically it is a perennial but will only come back if we have a mild winter. Grow it with other sun-loving herbs.

Spearmint is a must have. I keep it in a big cast iron pot that has a crack in it for drainage. Mints will spread rapidly so I always confine them to pots. If it gets a little unsightly during the heat, cut it back and fertilize with a small amount of fish emulsion. It will usually produce a nice flush of new growth.

Keep using it by pinching off the tips and it will shape up nicely. It is my favorite plant to flavor a pitcher of ice water. In winter I put a sprig of it in my hot black tea.

Herbs are indeed some of the most useful and beautiful plants in the landscape. I encourage you to experiment with them in pots or in the ground.

Airplants

Airplants are the common name of a variety of epiphytic species within the Tillandsia genus. Tillandsias are members of the pineapple family, also known as the bromeliad family. Airplants get their common name from their epiphytic habit – they grow on trees without soil. They receive all their water and nutrients through fuzzy gray scales on their leaves called trichomes. In nature, nutrients are provided by decaying organic matter like leaves or insects. The visible, wire-like roots are only used for anchoring themselves to the limbs and trunks of trees.

Florida has several native species of Tillandsia, which includes Spanish moss, but most of the commercially sold plants are native to Central & South America. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Tillandsia likes bright light, but not direct sunlight which can burn their leaves. A bright window in the house or a shaded patio are ideal spots for your plants. If temperatures drop below 45, be sure to bring your Tillandsia indoors, as they dislike cold weather and will die if exposed to frost.

To water, soak the plant once or twice a week, or use a spray/mist bottle to thoroughly wet it. Watering with rainwater or filtered water is best. After watering, shake out the excess so that no standing water remains in the center. Let plants dry in a well-ventilated place so they don't remain wet. Water more frequently in air conditioning, and hot weather, and less frequently in cool, cloudy weather. Also, when "planting" them, avoid tucking them into moss that stays damp, which may cause them to rot.

You can fertilize airplants once a month with a diluted water-soluble orchid or tillandsia fertilizer, following package instructions for dilution. We recommend diluted fish & seaweed emulsion, which can be applied with the misting or dunking methods. Not properly diluting your fertilizer, or fertilizing too often can kill your plant. If your plant is very dry, soak it first, then fertilize it the next day.

How to Encourage the Little Things that Run the World in Your Yard and Garden

Insects and other invertebrates like spiders, centipedes, and earthworms provide invaluable ecosystem services for free. Some decompose dead plants and animals, thus insuring the recycling of nutrients. Others pollinate. Some clean up dung and others provide soil aeration. All are a major part of the food web of nature.

For example, bees and other pollinators are essential to the reproduction of most flowering plants, including many vegetables, fruits, and nuts. I like to watch bumble bees visiting our tomato blossoms and southeastern blueberry bees pollinating our blueberry bushes. When wildflowers like ironweed, salt and pepper bush, calico aster, and purple coneflower are in bloom, bees, wasps, beetles, butterflies, and pollinating flies actively work the flowers for nectar and pollen in our butterfly garden.

Spicebush swallowtail on purple coneflower. Photo by Janeen Langley.

Native ants aerate the soil. Bessie beetles are active in the decay process and can often be found in rotting logs in shady areas. Dung beetles are fun to watch as they make a ball of animal poop to roll away to their homes. If you are lucky enough to have a pond or creek nearby, dragonflies will grace your yard. They are fierce predators. In their larval form, dragonflies eat copious amounts of mosquito larvae.

It is very important to set aside large acreages of parkland to serve as reservoirs for invertebrate diversity. In Florida, we have a conservation and recreation lands acquisition program called the Florida Forever that acts as a blueprint for conserving our precious natural resources. Florida Forever and other similar programs protect thousands of acres of habitat and can preserve natural ecosystems for generations.

However, since farmland and urban and suburban areas make up roughly 95% of our land use, it is just as important for citizens to make changes in the way we manage our yards and local parks. What we do in our own yards can make a big difference locally to our invertebrate populations. Here are three things you can do.

Spicebush caterpillar on sassafras. Photo by Donna Legare.

First, increase the percentage of native plants in your yard. Native plants have unique ecological relationships with native insects. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation reports that 96% of songbirds rear their young on insects, most of which are feeding on native plants. Attract pollinators by planting wildflowers. You can extend the season by including carefully chosen non-native flowers that extend the blooming season such as pentas, African blue basil, salvias, Mexican sunflower, and many others. Herbs like Greek oregano and rosemary are also good.

Secondly, give up pesticides or at least be super selective in how you use them. Control weeds by mowing or weed whacking with a string trimmer periodically rather than relying on herbicides. Hand weeding is good exercise!

Lastly, improve habitat. Woodland beds should have a forest floor of leaves and pine straw, as well as some areas of exposed soil for nesting non-aggressive solitary ground bees. Rotting logs and downed twigs and brush provide habitat for invertebrates. If you have a tree removed, consider leaving a small snag that will rot over time. Create brush piles here and there. Small piles can be tucked neatly under shrubbery.

A bee on a purple coneflower. Photo by Donna Legare.

I once discovered an overwintering bumble bee in an old flycatcher nest inside a large gourd. When I clean out my bluebird nest box, I place the old nest at the edge of a woodland bed on the ground. These are sometimes used by bumble bees. Areas of weak lawn, especially in the sun, may be used by non-aggressive miner bees which are usually seen in late winter or early spring in our area.

Why bother? A yard rich in invertebrates will be rich in birds and other wildlife. For me, it is very satisfying to see butterflies, moths, caterpillars, beetles, solitary wasps and bees, honey bees, bumble bees, pollinating flies, doodlebugs (ant lions), native ants, jumping spiders, crab spiders, golden silk spiders, centipedes, and all sorts of invertebrates that I cannot begin to identify in our yard. We have worked the last 27 years to increase the biodiversity of this small city lot that surrounds our home. I would encourage everyone reading this to take a more relaxed attitude about the neatness of your yard and make room for invertebrates!