Alpines & Herbs

Nepeta Catmint is a member of the mint family. It is an easy-to-grow plant with very few pests or problems. Its dark green foilage is topped with spikes in early summer with repeat blooms throughout the season.

Slightly aromatic, nepeta has a delicate, lacy appearance. Its flowers can be white, pink or lavender-blue and bloom on long spikes.

Characteristics:

• Type: Perennial
• Height & Spread: H 1m x S 0.5m
• Hardiness: Half-Hardy
• Colour: Blue
• Light Requirement: Full Sun or Partial Shade
• Size: 9cm

Chives are a perennial member of the onion family that sport beautiful edible flowers. Chives are considered a cool-season crop, which means that they grow best in the spring and fall. The harsher temperatures of summer usually cause them to go dormant until cool weather arrives again.

• Minimal care is needed for fully-grown, established plants.
• Although chives are drought tolerant, it's important to give them consistent watering throughout the growing season for high yields. Moisten the soil thoroughly when watering.
• Chives' small bulbs grow near the soil surface, so use mulch to conserve moisture and keep the weeds down.
• After the flowers bloom, be sure to remove them so that the seeds aren't spread throughout your garden.

Characteristics:

• Type: Herb
• Height: H 0.5m
• Bloom Time: Summer
• Hardiness: Fully Hardy
• Colour: Pink/Purple/Red/White
• Light Requirement: Full Sun
• Size: 9cm

Perennial herb with very fine aromatic bronze foliage. Use leaves in fish stock, sauces and stuffings and in mayonnaise, flavoured butters and salad dressings. The dried stalks can be placed under grilled or barbecued fish. Sow direct from March to May.

Characteristics:

• Type: Deciduous Herb
• Height & Spread: H 2.5m x S 1m
• Hardiness: Hardy in most places and in severe winters
• Colour: Bronze-Purple
• Light Requirement: Full Sun or Partial Shade
• Size: 9cm

Lovely aromatic, edible leaves, golden in colour crowned with clusters of small pink flowers. Ideally suited for pots or windowboxes as well as the front of a sunny border.

The fresh leaves can be added to salads or chopped and added to roast meat sandwiches, herb butter, egg dishes and soups. Its aromatic flavour also makes it an excellent addition to pot roast, veal and liver.

Characteristics:

• Type: Herb
• Height & Spread: H 0.3m x S 0.3m
• Hardiness: Fully hardy
• Colour: Golden-Yellow
• Light Requirement: Full Sun
• Size: 9cm

Mix this herb in with tomatoes, or add a bit of zing to sliced melon or salads. It is delicious with balsamic vinegar. 'Mint Basil' is a very easy to grow herb which forms a generous lump and looks attractive with its red flushed stems and lilac flowers in summer,

Characteristics:

• Type: Herb
• Height & Spread: H 0.6m x S 1.5m
• Hardiness: Fully Hardy
• Colour: Green
• Light Requirement: Full Sun or Partial Shade
• Size: 9cm

Mint 'Eau de Cologne' is a strong-growing perennial forming a wide colony of dark purple stems bearing oval leaves tinged with purple, and scented like Eau de Cologne, with tiny pale purple flowers in dense spikes in late summer

Grow in a poor, moist soil in full sun. Restrict its spread by planting in deep containers and plunging them into the soil, or by growing in small contained beds

Characteristics:

• Type: Deciduous Herb
• Height & Spread: H 0.5m x S 1.5m
• Hardiness: Fully Hardy
• Colour: Green, Purple
• Light Requirement: Full Sun
• Size: 9cm

Highly aromatic herb. Excellent for mint sauce and mint jelly. Pretty garnish for fruit salads, fruit and wine cups and tea. Grows with lilac flowers. Mint can spread indefinitely so take caution where you plant it. The purple flowers are very attractive to bees.

Characteristics:

• Type: Herb
• Height & Spread: H 0.6m x S 1m
• Hardiness: Hardy
• Colour: Green, Purple Flowers
• Light Requirement: Full Sun to Partial Shade
• Size: 9cm

Oregano Golden is a woody-based perennial to 30cm in height, forming a spreading clump of wiry stems bearing broadly ovate, bright golden-yellow leaves, and light pink tubular flowers in small terminal clusters.

Characteristics:

• Type: Deciduous Herb
• Height & Spread: H 0.5m x S 0.5m
• Hardiness: Fully Hardy
• Colour: Yellow, Pink
• Light Requirement: Full Sun to Partial Shade
• Size: 9cm

Very strong, tasty flavour with soft easy-to-chop leaves. Widely used in hot and cold dishes as a garnish and makes an excellent windowsill herb. In frost-prone areas, parsley should either be over-wintered indoors in a cool greenhouse or protected using a cloche.

Characteristics:

• Type: Herb
• Height & Spread: H 0.45m x S 0.3m
• Hardiness: Fully Hardy
• Colour: Green
• Light Requirement:
• Size: 9cm

Aromatic herb with fresh green curly foliage. This herb is widely used in cooking and is ideal for garnishes and sauces or finely chopped and added to sandwiches also. Plant in a sunny dry position. Can be eaten as a natural breath freshener.

Characteristics:

• Type: Semi-Evergreen Herb
• Height & Spread: H 0.5m x S 0.5m
• Hardiness: Fully Hardy
• Colour: Green
• Light Requirement: Partial Shade
• Size: 9cm

Common Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is a bushy dwarf shrub with small, linear to ovate, aromatic, dark grey-green leaves and spikes of small, tubular, purple pink or white flowers in early summer.

Characteristics:

• Type: Evergreen Herb
• Height & Spread: H 0.5m x S 0.1m
• Hardiness: Hardy in most places
• Colour: Green Foilage, Grey and Silver with Pink Flowers in Summer
• Light Requirement: Full Sun
• Size: 9cm

Primarily used as a groundcover, Creeping Thyme is a dwarf, aromatic shrub forming a low cushion of tiny, pointed, glossy blue-green leaves that turn bronze in the fall. Beautful clusters of tiny, deep pink-purplish flowers are rich in nectar attracting butterflies. Although the leaves are aromatic, they are rarely used in cooking.

Characteristics:

• Type: Dwarf Shrub
• Height & Spread: H 0.7m x S 3m
• Hardiness: Hardy
• Colour: Blue-Green
• Light Requirement: Full Sun
• Size: 9cm

Lemon Balm is a perennial herb of the mint family, it is easy to grow and is a robust grower. It has a distinct lemon-scented foilage. During the summer months, it produces small creamy-white or pale purple flower spikes that are full of nectar, which attracts bees!

Lemon Balm has many uses, as a culinary herb it can be infused to make tea as well as flavouring ice-creams, it is also used as a herb for stuffing poultry. Harvest throughout hte summer by snipping or pinching out the growing tips, it will keep regenerating all summer!

Characteristics:

• Type: Herb
• Height & Spread: H 1.2m x S 0.6m
• Position: Full Sun
• Flowering Period: July
• Size: 9 cm

Alpine strawberries are usually grown in shade in ornamental gardens. They have small, sweetly-flavoured, aromatic fruits and tolerate cooler conditions than most other strawberries. They need no special care and can be left to fend for themselves after planting

Characteristics:

• Type: Semi-Evergreen
• Height & Spread: H 0.3m x S 1.5m
• Hardiness: Fully Hardy
• Flowering Period: May
• Position: Full Sun or Partial Shade
• Size: 9cm

An abundance of sweet juicy red fruit in Summer. Plant in a sunny position, in a container, hanging basket or window box, and feed regularily in Summer.

Delicious in pies, tarts, jams, and preserves. Serve as a scrumptious dessert or appetizing breakfast. The perfect addition to any fresh fruit tray or spinach salad. Wash fruits, vegetables and herbs thoroughly before eating.

Characteristics:

• Height & Spread: H 0.2m x S 0.5m
• Hardiness: Hardy
• Flowering Period: Summer
• Position: Full Sun
• Size: 9 cm

Lemon thyme plants are a lovely addition to a herb garden, rock garden or border or as container plants. A popular herb grown not only for its culinary uses but for its attractive foliage, lemon thyme plants can be planted to form a ground cover or among pavers along a path or patio. The tiny flowers are a bee attractor, aiding in the pollination of surrounding plants.

Characteristics:

• Height & Spread: H 0.2m x S 0.4m
• Hardiness: Fully Hardy
• Flowering Period: June and July
• Position: Full Sun
• Size: 9 cm

Thyme serpyllum is a dwarf, aromatic, evergreen shrub forming a low, wide mat to 5cm in height. It has tiny, pointed, dark green leaves and tight clusters of purple flowers in summer.

Easy to grow in most well-drained alkaline to neutral soils in full sun. Suitable for a rock garden or paving crevices, where they release their fragrance when trodden on. Attractive to bees.

Characteristics:

• Type: Evergreen Herb
• Colour: Green with Purple Flowers in Summer
• Height & Spread: H 0.5m x S 0.5m
• Fragrance: Leaf
• Flowering Period: Summer
• Position: Full Sun

The green garden fennel is a handsome and popular perennial herb, often planted on its own for impact or combined with bergamot in flower borders. Fennel 'Green' has very fine aromatic foliage and can be used as a garnish, in fish dishes or served in salad. Sow direct from March - May.

Characteristics:

• Type: Herb
• Height & Spread: H 1.5-2.5m x S 0.5m
• Hardiness: Hardy
• Colour: Green with Yellow Flowers
• Light Requirement: Full Sun to Partial Shade
• Size: 9cm