This perennial herb grows in bushy clumps, with upright branching stems topped with spikes of lavender-blue flowers and blooms in mid to late summer. The flowers attract pollinating bees and other beneficial insects to your garden. Both the leaves and the flowers are fragrant when fresh or dried, so they’re a great addition to potpourri. It will self-sow or grow in new places from seed it drops, so pinch off most of the flowerheads before the small, black seeds mature and drop. Plants grow to 3-feet tall and best in USDA hardiness zones 4 through 9.
The summer flowers of this spreading herb are usually red but you can also find cultivars with pink, purple or white blooms. ‘Marshall’s Delight’ is a good pink variety that resists powdery mildew, a fungal disease that causes gray patches on the leaves. In mid to late spring, pinch out up to half of the stems at ground level to thin out crowded clumps. Plants grow to 3-feet tall and best in zones 4 through 9.
Feverfew may look delicate but it’s a sturdy, easy-to-grow herb that blooms from early summer to early fall. The white-petaled, yellow-centered flowers look like tiny daisies. Pinching off the spent flowers can extend the bloom season and it will reduce the number of self-sown seedlings. You can also cut the whole plant to the ground after bloom for a flush of new growth. Plants grow about 2-feet tall and in zones 4 through 9.
Tall Joe-Pye is the glory of the late summer garden. Its domed clusters of rosy pink to light purple flowers tower over shorter herbs, with sturdy stalks in multistemmed clumps. This is one of the Flowers That Promise To Bring Monarch Butterflies To Your Yard, as well as lots of attention from other garden visitors. Stems reach 6- to 8-feet tall and bloom in zones 3 through 8.
Lavender is as pretty to look at as it is heavenly to smell and it keeps its distinctive fragrance when dried. In midsummer, English lavender produces spikes of purple-blue flowers on slender stalks over shrubby clumps of narrow, silvery leaves. ‘Munstead’ and ‘Hidcote’ are more compact, growing only 12- to 18-inches tall, with dark purple flowers. Lavender is a good choice for the front of the border, or a container garden, but it must have good drainage to stay healthy. It grows best in zones 5 through 8.
