I used to do herbal landscaping. What type of garden are you looking to do - culinary, medicinal, tea, ornamental? A theme garden like Biblical or Shakesperean, - a combination of several?

well lets see, I would like for it to be fragrant, and most definatly culinary,tea and ornamental would be nice, but not formal. the area where i want to place it is outside my kitchen in front of my deck. there is a 3 foot retaining wall there. and the area is only about 12 to 14 feet wide , but is very long , my greenhouse is sitting in this area as well.

I redesigned my herb bed this year from two 4' x 16' boxes to a diamond inside four triangles. It is directly beside my new expanded veggie garden, and to celebrate my hubby bought me an arbor with a gate.

My best recommendation is to use edging to restrain oregano and lemon balm to a confined planting area, and to plant all mints into submerged pots to prevent hostile take-overs. Low-growing or fragrant herbs should be planted at the walkways for enjoyment.

Don't fret over-much about the design. My philosophy is that if you don't like it, dig it up and move it around.

Here is a link that might be useful:

How many approximate hours of sun does the area get?

It gets appr. 6 to 8 hours of sun. in the morning it is in the shade do to a huge oak tree that is there .

Go to the library and browse the garden design books, especially herb garden design. Look at the formal herb garden books for ideas to use in your informal garden. Mixed elements of formal and nonformal work best in my opinion or an herb garden can look out of control and messy real quick. You'll find all kinds of ideas. Then you can figure out which style and groupings of plants you like and go from there. I zerox whatever strikes me and keep a binder of ideas and pictures, especially of plant groupings, so that I don't forget what I truly like. So many people just throw herbs into the ground willy nilly with no design and then get horrified by the rampant mess and give it up. Others see the mess and swear off herbs for life and it's a shame.

It's worth the time and effort to create a design that will be pleasing to the eye for years to come and that you will be able to maintain. A great book is "Better Homes and Gardens Herbs" ideas and instructions for creating beautiful herb gardens. I checked it out from the library, loved it, and then shopped Amazon and found it new there for get this...50 cents! With shipping it was a bargain and there were a bunch of books available so I know you can pick one up there cheap. have fun!

Here's some pic's of my herbs. I am very easy going when it comes to gardening, no stress, no mess. My style ain't for everyone though...I have 2x8's laid between rows to walk on, some RR ties in back corner to maintain strawberry bed. Other than that, they are on their own. If I could start from scratch, I'd make one like Granites new bed. Gorgeous design!

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I like a simple design as well. Not to fussy, but dont want it messy neiter. Love the pictures.

I'm not going to suggest a "design", but rather list some of the different "themes" that you can incorporate into a design. Here is a list of some herb theme gardens:

rose
fragrance
culinary
edible flowers
tea
medicinal
astrological
Shakespeare
Bible
Mary
Medieval
wild
crafting
potpourri
physic
color
dye
hummingbirds
butterflies
bees

The list is way too long for me to include all of the herbs that can be used in each garden, but if you are interested, I have found one of the best books for herb growing in the south is: Southern Herb Growing by Madalene Hill & Gwen Barclay. They have lots of information on herbs for the above mentioned theme gardens. It is mainly for Texas herb growing, but can be adapted to different regions too.

I second the recommendation for Southern Herb Growing if you live anywhere in the south.

Create a small area for each type of herb  thyme, rosemary, parsley, etc.  and arrange them so they're conveniently placed when you come to cut some for supper, with enough space to walk between and to tend them (and enough room for them to grow). Allow extra spacing between taller herbs so they don't shade each other or their neighbors; for the same reason, you may want to put the tallest ones along the garden's northern edge (if you're in the northern hemisphere).

Don't be afraid to include areas for non-herbs: annual or perennial flowers, other ornamentals, a few vegetables. They add color and can fill in while your herbs are getting established, or coming back each year.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden publishes a book on herb garden design and has a few chapters, with illustrations, online.

Here is some information about the The Beginner's Herb Garden by the Herb Society of America which has lots of good information.

My aunt, Faith Swanson wrote a book with a friend of hers, and it is a classic. Perhaps it will help you with your decisions about designing your herb garden. Look for:

Herb Garden Design by Faith H. Swanson and Virginia B. Rady University Press of New England Copyright 1984
ISBN 0-87451-296-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 0-87451-297-2 (paperback)
This is a well researched, thorough book with basic information for the amateur and everything a professional would want. The renderings are superb.

It certainly is a wonderful addition to any gardener's library, and I would say this even if it were not my aunt who wrote this.

herbalynn's and granite's are both beautiful! Mine's closer to herbalynn's, but laid out in a large rectangle. One thing I'd change is to add grassy paths through it, rather than having one big bed; that would save having to tread gingerly around plants in order to get in and harvest.

knitmarie, how wonderful that your aunt is an herb garden expert! Can you tell us more about her gardens (or yours), and your experiences visiting them as a child and as an adult?

Some big river rocks can form elegant footpaths thru a garden that would otherwise be too large to get thru. Moss or elfin thyme would be a good ground cover around the paths.

I think you need to choose what you want to grow, and then figure out how to arrange them.

Could you maybe post a picture or draw a diagram of your planting area? :)

I'm looking also an idea for the design of my herb garden. But I think this thread is already an old one. LOL for me.