Pretty herbs.

Herbs, beautiful? But of course.

After my garden was established, a neighbor came up to tell me she never knew herbs could be so pretty.

Well, they are. Most of them are, after all, flowering plants. And having a hundred or so different species crowded into a couple dozen square meters (well, OK, it's about 100 m2) means there's lots of color splashes, from early spring to late late autumn.

Here's a few favorites:

- roseroot (Rhodiola rosea) and an Asian roseroot (Rhodiola kirilowii), because they bring colors in early spring
- blue flag (various Iris species) and Siberian flag (Iris sibirica), because they bring color after the rhodiolas are all done
- purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and beebalm (Monarda didyma 'Cambridge scarlet') -- very very beautiful.
- chives (Allium schoenoprasum), pretty pretty, below the taller plants.
- hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) and musk mallow (Malva moschata), for inbetween constant color
- California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) and calendula (Calendula officinalis), for annual bright yellowness
- elecampane (Inula helenium), for tall late yellowness
- peppermint (Mentha x piperita), for dark green mass with a bit of dark purple thrown in
- silver mint (Mentha longifolia) and western mugwort (Artemisia ludoviciana) for many many square meters of pretty silvery leaf
- autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale), for autumn color
- prairie coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), for sheer "hang on, it's not winter yet, is it?" tenaciousness.

There's lots more in my garden, of course, and I can't wait for summer. Pretty pretty, all of it, complete with herbal weeds that nest in between the planted herbs.