When you set about planning your herb garden layout, your clipboard, pen and paper are as important as your hoe and shovel. You need to pick a place that gets at least six hours of sun each day. Very few herbs will grow in the shade, and they are mostly undesirable perennial herbs like invasive mints. Sketch the layout on paper.

Decide which herbs you want to grow in you garden. Some people plant herbs because they are low maintenance and drought tolerant. Others love the full, spreading habits of herbs like lavender and oregano or the creepers like wooly thyme.

The rules in an herb garden layout should just be like a garden layout. They are also the basic rule that any school photographer follows when he photographs a class of young school children: Place the tall plants at the back, the midsize ones in the middle, and the short ones in the front.

Tall Herb Plants

In any garden layout, herbs that are the tallest should be placed at the back of the border. This way, they won’t take away all the sun from the shorter plants. Examples of plants for the back of the border are: Anise hyssop (agastache “Tutti Frutti”) – grows up to six feet tall; add fragrant flowers to salads and sandwiches. Sweet cicely is a plant that grows up to four feet tall and can grow both in full or partial shade.

Cardoon (cynara cardunculus) – grows up to five feet tall; cousin of the artichoke, with edible leaves, stalks, and unopened flower heads similar to those of the artichoke.

Midsize Herb Plants

Plan to place midsize herb garden plants into the middle of your herb garden layout. Most herbs are of this size – 18 inches to 36 inches tall. Examples of middle sized plants are sage, they grow up to two feet tall.S. and is often used with roasted meats. Silver thyme (thymus vulgaris) – grows up to one foot tall; desirable for its silver leaves and small purple flowers; can be harvested year-round. Rosemary is a plant that grows about two feet tall and has a strong flavor and fragrance.

Short Herb Plants

Along the front of the border are the creepers: herb plants that grow close to the ground. Your herb garden layout is complete once you plant these ground covers. They are usually grown for their being pretty. Some examples of low-growing herbs are Wooly thyme, Corsican mint and roman chamomile.