The 10 Best Aromatic Herbs for Your Garden

Fragrant herbs in a raised bed

You want herbs for your garden that look good, and taste good, and have extra medicinal benefits -- but what about scent? Herbal fragrances have enriched perfumes, cosmetics and comestibles for centuries, and choosing herbs that smell wonderful has unexpected benefits. The right herb fragrances can attract bees -- or repel insects. They can enhance a garden's ambience by making it feel welcoming, exotic, delicious or just unique. Some can have calming or soothing characteristics, while others are known to invigorate.

In many cases, herbs release their aromas when you brush up against them, so you can enjoy the benefits with very little effort. Here's a tip: Plant aromatic herbs close to a gate or walkway for a regular reminder that garden fresh fragrances are the best around. In fact, many aromatherapy scents are based on herb fragrances, and you can have that bounty growing in your backyard for the cost of a little soil improvement and periodic watering.

The ten herbs below are widely known for their distinctive and pleasant aromas. If you aren't growing a few, consider this a wake up call. Making your garden an olfactory as well as a visual delight works indoors and out. Most of these herbs can be used in teas, cooking, crafts and herbal remedies. They can stand in as air fresheners and make attractive live flower (or plant) bouquets. They can also be welcome ingredients in potpourris and sachets.

Grab a spade and some seeds. In a great herb garden, you don't need signs for direction. Just follow your nose:

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)

Lemon balm

For an easy care plant that's famous for its lemony scent, try lemon balm. A member of the mint family, this herb has a bright green color and a creeping habit that will fill a vacant corner in no time. Lemon balm is known as herbal valium. A tea made from it can be a reliable sleep aid. Lemon balm also makes a tasty addition to fruit salad, works well as a garnish and as part of a casual table arrangement of flowers and herbs. Lemon balm jelly is a personal favorite served with warm muffins.

Lemony fragrances always smell fresh and clean, making them popular in household cleansers and other products.  If you've never smelled lemon balm, it has the same general scent notes as lemon furniture polish.  Nice. If you really adore that fragrance, and many do, try other herbs with similar lemony goodness. They include: lemon verbena, lemon thyme, lemon eucalyptus and lemon grass.

How to Grow Lemon Balm  

Peppermint

Peppermint (Mentha × piperita)

There are many different types of mint, including closely related plants like lemon balm and catnip. I enjoy peppermint the most because, to me, it has the strongest aroma and flavor. It's a perky little plant, too, with dark green leaves that have mauve to purple undersides. The smell of peppermint is always cheering. This plant is one of the last to go dormant in fall and among the first to start showing signs of life in spring. If you like mint jelly, enjoy mint tea (which is great for stomach upsets), or make the occasional mint julep, this little plant can be your best friend.  You can propagate it in a glass of water, and maintain it that way indoors over the winter months. 

Note: Although peppermint is my go-to mint buddy, spearmint and apple mint both have strong, pleasant fragrances. Other fun options include: chocolate mint and orange min.)

Homemade Peppermint Extract 

Scented Geranium (Pelargonium, various)

Lime Scented Geranium

You see geraniums for sale every spring at the large nurseries, but these large leaf varieties are very different from the hundreds of scented geraniums available through specialty herb outlets. For one, scented geraniums are usually built on a much smaller scale, with delicately shaped leaves and daintier flowers overall. The big surprise isn't that scented geraniums look like flowers fit for a pixie's lawn, though. It's their various fragrances that are so remarkable: From chocolate to orange blossom to cinnamon (apple, attar of roses or mimosa), wonderful rich deep scents are available with these plants. If you try a few, you'll want them all, and there are dozens to choose from. Although scented geraniums aren't frost tolerant, they can be overwintered indoors. As aromatic herbs, they can't be beat for sheer variety.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

You may think of rosemary as an herb often used with roasted meats, or in Greek or Italian cooking. In warmer climates, it's often employed as a hedge or ground cover, though.  If you explore professional landscaping in California, Nevada or other warm weather locations, you'll likely see plenty of rosemary.  With its deep green coloration and delicate white, lavender or blue flowers, it’s a pretty plant. What isn't immediately apparent is that rosemary has a strong and wonderfully piney fragrance -- with a little something extra. Think of it as Christmas tree meets the robust pepperiness of a quality olive oil.

Newer rosemary cultivars are pushing the boundary for cold tolerance, so you may be able to cultivate this plant in protected areas as low as Hardiness Zone 5 or so. If not, it works as a commuter plant -- outdoors in summer and indoors in winter.

Rosemary Christmas Tree Maintenance
Rosemary Quotes from Literature 

Lavender (Lavandula, various)

Lavender

Without a doubt, lavender is the reigning monarch of fragrance herbs. It's used in everything from shampoo to carpet cleaner, and that's no accident. Lavender has a  universal appeal. It's popular with both men and women, and even though the cliché about "old ladies" smelling of lavender is alive and well, this scent is still one of the most beloved, recognizable and in-demand flower based aromas on the market.

Lavender also happens to be an aromatherapy superstar. It's a natural muscle relaxer, even when inhaled. In fact, relaxing those tight shoulder and neck muscles will help you go to sleep faster, and sleep longer, too.

You can add a sachet of fresh lavender to your bath water, or tuck it under your pillow instead. You can even toss dried lavender buds on your rugs for an instant carpet deodorizer with benefits.

Understanding Different Types of Lavender
Lavender Quotes from Literature 

Ginger

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)

There's a good chance you have powdered ginger in your spice cabinet right now. If not, you may have a hunk of ginger root in your vegetable drawer. Ginger is an essential herb in Asian cooking, and it also makes a soothing tea. What's somewhat less well-known is that ginger leaves produce a  milder version of that peppery, floral ginger fragrance we all know and love. Those same leaves can be used to make a milder but still refreshing tea with antioxidant properties.

You can even start a ginger plant from that vegetable drawer root -- if it's still in good shape. After the growing season winds down, harvest and dry the leaves and place the pot in a protected indoor location until next spring. The plant will revive and sprout again like magic.

Growing and Harvesting Ginger 

Basil

Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

What can you say about the main ingredient in the  most popular herb based pasta dishes on the planet -- pesto. This annual is one of the most common herbs grown in the home garden every year. It attracts bees, and is an almost perfect accompaniment to fresh tomatoes. A classic Italian dish, insalata caprese or caprese salad, combines fresh basil, tomatoes and mozzarella. Do try it.

Basil has a mild licorice flavor with slightly sweet notes and an elegant subtlety you won't find in other licorice style offerings like fennel.  When the sun is shining on a mature, leafy plant, it's easy to fall in love with this Mediterranean import (that actually originated in India). It smells like a banquet.  If you love Italian dining, the garden doesn't get much better than this.

Growing Basil
 

Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans)

Pineapple sage

Yes, pineapple sage actually does smell like pineapple -- in the most delicate, appealing way. It smells almost too good to be true. No wonder bees and hummingbirds love it.  Pineapple sage produces deep green leaves and lush growth all summer long, as well as attractive slender, red flowers. Unfortunately, the fragrance doesn't last well when the plant is either dried or cooked, but it is evident when pineapple sage is used as a garnish or added to cold dishes like salad or gelatin. Think of this one as a gardener's secret pleasure. One whiff and you'll be a pineapple sage lover for life.


How to Grow Pineapple Sage

Lime thyme

Lime Thyme (a cultivar of Thymus citriodorus)

There are a number of thyme varieties, including the lemon thyme mentioned above. The lime scented cultivar of this plant has a, well, more limey aroma than the lemon forms out there. It's actually very refreshing. Lime thyme makes for an interesting specimen plant, and adds a nice touch to grilled fish. If you can only grow a few herb varieties for scent, there are others you may want to try first. If you're looking for something a little different, though, lime thyme is worth the space in your garden.

Growing Thyme

Curry Plant (Helichrysum italicum)

Curry plant

You probably already know traditional curry is a blend of different spices. There are actually hundreds of curry variations. If you think you can produce a nice curried lamb using curry plant, you're in for a disappointment. To add to the confusion, there are actually two very different plants commonly referred to as "curry plant." (This is an excellent reason to rely on scientific plant names whenever possible).

We are referring to Helichrysum italicum, a tender perennial that looks a little like a small, gray rosemary plant.  The description doesn't really do it justice, though.  This little herb has one of the most unusual fragrances you're likely to run across in your explorations. Even though it's marketed as smelling like a curry blend, it can morph into something else sometimes.  Actually, my husband and others think it smells like maple syrup, and I do too -- at least occasionally.  Other times, I agree it has the spicy, earthy aroma associated with some curries. Hard to imagine? Give it a try and see for yourself.

Curry plant can be used in cooking, but it is more well-known for its anti-inflammatory properties. Want to savor its wonderful fragrance? Use it as a garnish with egg and mildly seasoned rice and pasta dishes.

How to Grow Curry Plant  


There's nothing like fragrant breeze coming through your kitchen window, or wafting across your deck. When you plant aromatic herbs near the most accessible areas of your garden, you can smell as well as see the wonder of nature at work. Happy gardening!

Fragrant herbs in a decorative pot

Photos:

Main Photo
https://www.flickr.com/photos/suzettesuzette/4615709577/in/photolist-
Source: Flickr  User name: Suzette

Lemon balm  https://www.flickr.com/photos/loveberry/752069771/in/photolist-
Source: Flickr  User name: hitomi

Peppermint  https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonomura/2618041106/in/photolist-
Source: Flickr  User name: Hidetsugu Tonomura

Scented Geranium - https://www.flickr.com/photos/tessenwee/2434458584/in/photolist-
Source: Flickr  User name: Tracy27  Lme Geranium

Rosemary - https://www.flickr.com/photos/pfsullivan_1056/10272752835/in/photolist-
Source: Flickr  User name: Paul Sullivan

Lavender - https://www.flickr.com/photos/karen_roe/6083057473/in/photolist-
Source: Flickr  User name: Karen Roe

Ginger https://www.flickr.com/photos/adaduitokla/6234048827/in/photolist
Source: Flickr  User name: Ahmad Fuad Morad

Basil - https://www.flickr.com/photos/zoyachubby/1578687731/in/photolist
Source: Flickr  User name: zoyachubby

Pineapple Sage - https://www.flickr.com/photos/plewsgardendesign/16611467155/in/photostream/
Source: Flickr  User name: Marie Shallcross

Lime Thyme - https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnvonderlin/9346504330
Source: Flickr  User name: John Vonderlin

Curry Plant - https://www.flickr.com/photos/63026284@N05/16956660378/in/photolist
Source: Flickr  User name: Thistle-Garden