Summer blooming Herbs

by Monica Brandies

Some popular herbs either die off or look bad through our wet summers. Only once have I had parsley survive. Thyme, sage, lemon balm and true tarragon fade or fail. Nasturtiums, most Viola species and calendulas are winter annuals that have to be removed.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy herbs in the summertime. Here are some of my favorites that will not only thrive, but bloom beautifully all summer long.

Roses are used for perfumes, cosmetics and potpourri, as well as for landscaping and bouquets. Petals are edible if they have not been sprayed. Plants need full sun, or partial shade in Florida, and regular feeding and watering. If you don’t want to spray, grow antique or heirloom varieties such as ‘Louis Philippe’. Knockout roses, ‘Belinda’s Dream’ and ‘Don Juan’ are also very disease resistant.

Purple coneflowers are beautiful in the garden. Native Americans used the roots to help restore general health and as a blood purifier. Recent studies show properties from this plant activate the immune system; you can get tablets at a health food store to fight colds, flu and sore throats. They need sun, space, enriched soil and moderate watering.

Portulaca and purslane (Portulaca grandiflora and P. oleracea) are common bedding plants that will bloom from spring until cold weather. They come in shades of pink, yellow and white. All parts are edible and high in Vitamin C. Both are high in Omega-3 fatty acids, which help reduce cholesterol and the risk of blood clots and heart attacks. Add leaves and flowers to salads, sandwiches, soups, eggs and casseroles. Crushed leaves and stems help soothe burns and insects stings. Besides the lovely bloomers you buy as bedding plants, you may find weed purslane in your garden with similar little leaves and succulent stems, but inconspicuous flowers. Use these in your salads and let the bloomers decorate your garden.

Madagascar Periwinkle or Vinca blooms year round in Florida gardens. They’ll grow in full sun to light shade. The flowers, which look much like impatiens and need no deadheading, can be peach, raspberry red, grape, apricot, white, pink and interesting variations. This plant is highly salt tolerant.

Periwinkles grow easily from seeds or cuttings. They get one to two feet tall, depending on variety, and will bloom year round where there is no hard freeze. They may also self seed.

This plant actually is an herb because it is used in medicines, notably two important anti-cancer drugs effective in the treatment of childhood leukemia. Most home remedies are not recommended, except that the juice of the leaves will ease the pain of wasp stings. Plants are toxic, so warn children not to eat them.

Lantana is one of the best butterfly plants. It is drought resistant and prefers full sun, but tolerates some shade. It may die back in northern counties, but quickly sprouts again in late spring. Pruning it back encourages new growth, a more compact plant and more flowers. The leaves make a good poultice for sores, but they can also cause skin irritation in some people. Lantana grows wild in much of Florida, but dwarf or specific varieties are sold in most nurseries. The leaves feel like fine sandpaper and give off a fragrance that some call unpleasant but others like very much.

Elderberries grow wild throughout the state. You can spot these tall bushes by their large, flat clusters of small white flowers that are followed by purple-black berries. Pick them by the stem and scrape them from the cluster with a fork.

The flowers and the clusters of berries when green are good in fresh or dried bouquets. Flowers are also good in teas, baked goods, salads and some cosmetics. They are also used in steam treatments for stomach problems, sore throats, fevers and colds. The berries make tasty jellies, jams, pies, cobblers, syrup and wine.

Aloe, one of the easiest and most useful herbs, blooms in flushes throughout the warm months. It has so many uses that I used to take a potted one along when we took the kids to a lake cabin for vacation. I’ve always kept plants close enough to the house to get to them day or night. The jell within the succulent leaves gives first aid and quick soothing to burns, cuts and scratches, insects bites and rashes of all kinds, especially diaper rash. It can also be grown as a houseplant, though it may not bloom indoors. The only way you can kill it is to move it from shade to full sun suddenly, in which case it will boil in its own juice.

Hibiscus is a beautiful landscape shrub with flowers in many colors. It needs full sun and doesn’t mind poor soil, though it thrives with fertilizer and moist, well-drained soil. Both leaves and flowers are edible and used in herbal teas. I use the leaves of the cranberry hibiscus (H. acetosella) in salads through all the warm months. Roselle (H. sabdariffa) makes a good substitute for cranberries. The antioxidants in hibiscus help prevent cholesterol problems, liver disorders and high blood pressure.

Chives are great in both the garden and kitchen. I used to grow the regular one, Allium schoenoprasum, among my rose bushes to repel insects. It stays low and has lovely clover-like lavender blooms in the spring. It was not until I came to Florida that I discovered garlic chives, A. tuberosum, with wider flat leaves that grow to about 18 inches, and pretty rose-scented white flowers in two-inch flat clusters that bloom on two-foot stems. These have proven much longer-lived and more reliable in Florida for me. The flowers are nice enough for bouquets and there is much more production of foliage. I’ve had the same plants for a dozen years, through cold, heat, rain and drought, while the shorter chives only live for a year at the most. Both can be started from seeds or divisions, but it is easiest to just buy a nice plant and let it spread. They do well in full sun to partial shade, and respond to enriched soil, but tolerate a good bit of neglect. Frequent watering will keep the leaf tips from yellowing. These members of the lily family are cousins of onions, but much milder.

Pinecone ginger (Zingiber zerumbet) bears one of my favorite flowers. The pinecone cluster of bracts starts out apple green in early July and turns red as the small flowers bloom and fall. Squeeze the “cone” and a lanolin-like lotion comes out; it is fragrant and soothing to hands and face, used with shampoo for hair, keeps insects away for a short time and has taken the pain and swelling right out of wasp stings for me. This plant will double in size every year. It grows with little care in light shade to full sun, in wet or dry places. It dies down to the ground in the winter, but comes back in April.

In her wonderful and useful book Herbs and Spices for Florida Gardens, Monica Brandies defines herbs as “any plant with any part that has uses additional to being ornamental or producing food.”

 © 2014 Monica Brandies. Originally published in Florida Gardening, Apr / May 2014. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: Lantana can be invasive in Florida. Learn more about choosing appropriate varieties here.