As the last of winter recedes, the rose beds tend to look a
little bedraggled. The garden’s saving
grace is the carpet of herbs growing at the feet of the roses, softening the
starkness of bare winter stems.
Growing herbs amid the heirloom roses serves a number of
practical purposes; first and foremost, acting as living mulch that protects
root systems from frost and the drying effect of cold winds. With their fragrance and variety of leaf and
flower shapes, herbs also offer a plentiful food source and shelter for
beneficial insects over the sparse winter months and into spring.
A special treat is observing our Australian native bees
foraging amongst the herbs. As the
weather warms and hints of spring begin to appear, we especially look forward
to spying the solitary and rather shy blue-banded bee, (Amegilla cingulata) with its iridescent, furry blue stripes. A native buzz-pollinating bee, it is a
charming addition to the garden.
One of the favourite bee foraging herbs in our garden is
Borage. We encourage Borage, (Borago officinalis) to self-seed at
will among the rose beds. Its broad,
softly furred leaves give lushness to bare-legged roses after their winter
prune.
And the star shaped, blue flowers of Borage add a touch of
colour and winter magic to secret corners of the garden. It is a special delight to pick off the
black seeds from under the spent flowers and scatter them in bare patches here
and there, knowing they’ll pop up and fill another corner.
As winter gives way to spring, a few of the heirloom roses
are beginning to awake. Here, the blue
Borage flowers complement the porcelain pink of Souvenir de St Anne’s, daughter
of the Bourbon rose, Souvenir de la Malmaison ... a match made in heaven!
Another happy self-seeder is Tansy, (Tanacetum vulgare) with its yellow button flowers brightening up
the garden. The Hybrid Musk rose, Buff
Beauty, in its sheltered corner flowers sporadically through winter, happily
sharing the limelight with its neighbouring tansy flowers.
Perennial herbs add a more permanent structure and greenery to
the rose garden throughout winter. There
are a number of cultivars of rosemary, but the common Rosemary, (Rosemarinus officinalis) with strong upright
growth and blue flowers is tough and copes with harsh conditions. Rosemary also lends itself easily to being clipped
into shape. We clip ours into square
pillars as accents on the corner of some of our rose beds. Rosemary also propagates easily from cuttings
and makes a low maintenance hedge to frame rose beds.
Perfect for edging beds is the exquisite carpeting perennial
herb, Lemon Thyme, (Thymus x citriodorus). This comes in green or variegated leaf
colours and both are sweetly, lemon fragrant.
We have laid ours alternately to edge the circular Moss roses bed. A joy to brush past as it releases its lemony fragrance and now bees are already foraging amongst the first of its tiny pink flowers.
Considered to be too invasive to let loose in garden beds, the
common mint, (Mentha spp.) needs to
be contained, even in a sprawling country garden. We prefer to grow the less invasive
spearmint, (Mentha x spicata) with
its grey green foliage and sweeter fragrance.
It carpets the roses and offers
up a delicious perfume each time it’s brushed or trodden upon.
A decorative alternative is apple mint, (Mentha suaveolens) with its slightly
woolly leaves and lovely apple-mint fragrance.
Apple mint is now on our 'must-have' list as it also comes in a variegated form, with cream splashed
leaves; another fragrant addition to the herbal carpet at the feet of the heirloom roses.
