• slide
  • slide
  • slide
  • slide
  • slide
  • slide
  • slide

Growing and Using Less Common Herbs

Expand your garden’s flavor, fragrance and beauty with these lesser-used herbs.

Enjoy the attractive cucumber-flavored leaves of salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor) in salads, on sandwiches, and in dips. Or add a refreshing hint of cucumber to lemonade and sparkling water.

Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens) has a similar flavor that is stronger, less bitter and less minty than Greek oregano. It’s a common ingredient in Southwestern and Mexican recipes and chili powders.

Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida) leaves smell a bit like root beer or anise and have an intense tarragon-like flavor. Use dried leaves for tea and fresh leaves in salads, soups, meat dishes and desserts.

Enjoy the fragrance and minty flavor of Indian mint (Satureja douglasii) just as you would other mints.

The aromatic leaves of patchouli (Pogostemon cabin) are used in fragrances, potpourris to cover up musty smells and as a moth repellent for linens and wools.

A bit more information: Salad burnet leaves do not dry well.  Try freezing them for use in hot dishes or use them to flavor butter and vinegar. The perennial herb is hardy in zones 4 to 8 and spreads by seeds and underground rhizomes.

Upcoming Live Events
& Webinars


March 20, 2024
FREE WEBINAR

Maximize the Beauty and Enjoyment
in Any Small Space
Register now

March 23, 2024

REALTORS Home & Garden Show
West Allis, WI

March 27, 2024
FREE WEBINAR

How to Start a Garden for Beginners
Register now

April 3, 2024
Garden Trends 

Franklin Public Library, Franklin, WI

April 10, 2024
FREE WEBINAR

Container Gardening Throughout the Year
Register now

April 11, 2024
FREE WEBINAR

7 Steps to Managing Water Where it Falls in Your Yard
Register now

April 18, 2024
Be a Waterwise Gardener
Golden Rondelle Theater, Racine, WI
Register now

April 20, 2024
Pruning Hydrangeas and Other Shrubs 
Pasquesi Home & Gardens, Lake Bluff, IL

April 27, 2024
Ridges & Rivers Book Festival
Viroqua, WI

April 28, 2024
Flowering Trees and Shrubs
Ebert's Greenhouse Village, Ixonia, WI

May 1, 2024
FREE WEBINAR

Ornamental Fruits and Vegetables
Register now

WATCH ON-DEMAND WEBINARS

Learn More

Book an Appearance

Learn More

Enter to Win The Birds & Blooms' Ultimate Gardening Guide !

ENTER NOW