Grow Perennial Herbs Successfully this Year!
By David Bernal
Spring is here and it’s never too late to get started on your bountiful perennial herb garden! Whether grown indoors or out in the garden bed, fragrant and savory perennial herbs are a timeless and effortless way to reinvigorate any tired garden bed, patio, or kitchen with the sweet scent of summer. Rather than worry about the daily maintenance of soft, tender, and wilty annual herbs, establish your perennial herb garden this season for several years worth of harvests.
The new Mountain Valley Seed Perennial Herb Collection features a handpicked selection of 6 of the most drought-resistant, low-maintenance, and full sun perennials available to the home garden including lavender, rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, and sweet marjoram. Each of these iconic herbs are native to the temperate Mediterranean hillsides and still prefer the same perennially dry, shallow, and rocky soils from which they originated.
Unlike tender and delicate annuals such as basil, cilantro, or parsley, the Perennial Herb Collection boasts some of the most summer-hardy herbs also able to go dormant and withstand the worst of a winter frost. With the exception of sweet marjoram, each variety of the Perennial Herb Collection is an outdoor perennial to hardiness zones 4-9 approximately, developing a thick and woody base to protect against 10-0°F winter conditions. Sweet marjoram is slightly more sensitive to the frost and best if brought indoors to continue perennial growth.
Each of the herbs in the Perennial Herb Collection are popularly cultivated in containers and pots to easily move plants, maximizing sunlight throughout the day, season, and year. If intending for culinary use, feel free to bring each of your herbs indoors during the winter to best preserve tender and aromatic growth. Most of these herbs are known to live perennially anywhere from 5-10 years with regular pruning and full sun, while lavender and rosemary are known to have a lifespan up to 20 years.
For complete growing instructions for the Perennial Herb Collection, check out our free individual Herb Growing Guides with detailed propagating, watering, pruning, and harvesting instructions.