Well, yes, mints can and will spread like crazy. Oregano too, while chamomile can spread through reseeding. But careful design and management will keep them in check, and they're worth having.

Do you want these herbs for cooking, tea, remedies, fragrance or looks?

Teryaki:

Thanks for the info. I didn't know about Oregano spreading.

I plan on using some of them for cooking, fragrance and looks.

The true Italian Oregano (Origanum x majoricum) does not spread. The trouble is there are several plants out there that go by that common name. It is a cross between Oregano and Sweet Marjoram and has pointier leaves and milder flavor than Oregano (Origanum vulgare). It is sometimes found under the name Hardy Marjoram or Winter Marjoram. It may be hardy in your area in a well drained, slightly protected area.

Mugwort and wormwood are very invasive.

Francesco

Jenwestie, what color is your house? Purple coneflowers behind with some catmint in front would be quite pretty. Tarragon is a must for cooking. Thymes along the front border. English lavender would do well if you have good drainage. Try hidcote or munstead varieties in WI. What about sage? Feverfew? Pinks?

Becareful with birdfeeders in the garden, they drop the seeds and you will have them sprouting every where. Just an idea to think about :) Have a great day!

In addition to the thymes and catmint on the front border, how about some chives for slightly higher looks and pretty flowers? Then based on the color scheme, maybe some sorrel for early green, horehound or sage for some silver / green, some clumps of hyssop for the pink / blue flowers. Other bi/perennials that would look nice might be yarrow (invasive from seed but great cut flowers), valerian (same as yarrow but makes a great tall back border with large white flower heads) and maybe some leeks that are left for the seed heads in the second year. If you're looking for other color in annuals, pick up a couple of varieties of basil (purple is striking) and maybe some amaranth in the back for red contrast to the white valerian.

It sounds like you're interested in attracting wildlife as well. :)

I'd agree with all the above, except...

Italian oregano's a waste of space, if you want it for cooking. Get the Greek oregano and keep it isolated so it can't spread, or just keep an eye on it and cut it back when it starts encroaching on other plants. Plus the Greek stuff stays green during the winter. Along with the thyme, it's always nice to see that bit of green poking thru the snow. You can grow it in a large raised pot, or a raised bet isolated within lumber, and be certain it won't spread (likewise mints).

Now if you want marjoram (which is great with poultry and codfish), find a variety called "Max". It's got a trailing habit that's great for spilling over the sides of pots, and it's got a wonderful sweet scent to it. Marjoram isn't hardy to Zone 5 winters, though.

You've gotta have some flatleaf parsley. It'll grow up and out and cover a nice bit of space in foot-tall greenery. Besides the culinary uses, it'll flower the second year (very similar to Queen Ann's Lace, which is a close relative, along with carrots) and attract butterflies to lay their eggs. Caterpillars love parsely.

I recommend lovage for any herb garden. It's a bushy perennial, a wild relative of celery with a similar flavor (nearly all "celery seed" you see in the supermarket is actually from lovage). It makes a good backing for a garden against a wall, or to anchor the center of a patch. And it's great in chicken soup.

Butterflies and hummingbirds will be lured in as well by Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum, a tall-growing purple-blooming wildflower) and flowering currant or gooseberry bushes (which produce some deliciously tart fruit as well). Birds will eat the ripe currants too.

A lovely centerpiece to any garden is a comfrey bush. They outlive most family pets, they attract bees and provide shelter for invertebrate garden predators like mantids, spiders and ladybugs who'll help keep your garden healthy, and they're wonderfully charismatic plants with delicate lavender blooms and a huge deep green leaves that give a garden a real sense of tranquility.

Can you guess I like perennials? ;)

Thank you all for such wonderful suggestions! Several I've never heard of, so I will be spending lots of time researching and more planning. Good thing I still have tons of winter left!

Francesco - Mugwort and wormwood I will stay away from, thanks for the info!

Rustiksandkandles: Definately good advice, Thanks!

HerbalBetty: My house is white with black/silver accents, so everything goes!! I have purple coneflower seeds w/s right now so yeah I will definately add that to the garden

Makalu: So many suggestions thank you! I don't know what most are so I will google them. Thanks!!

Teryaki: Perennials are a must at my house as well. I love to add annuals to fill in the beds. Wildlife would be wonderful and I will certainly be researching many of your suggestions. I never thought of the currant bushes!

Thanks again for all your help everyone!

Hope you'll post photos when you've got it all together. :)

I promise before and after photos!!

Yay!

Just wanted to say....with all the bird feeders and bird houses...just be careful you do not have alot of excess...umm, how do I say it...poop in your herbs.

I like lemon balm too, just cut the flowers off to prevent alot of resedding. Makes a nice tea.

I am a new comer to this site and boy have I learned a lot already. Herbs are a lot of fun to grow and are pretty easy. The thing is to not stress over your failures, just learn from them. For any herb garden or patch I recommend dill weed, chives and parsley for beginning. Watch the dill when it starts to seed. Of course you can save the seed or the weed. (check the price of each at the stores.) Chives grow and grow and grow. They are perenniel and you can share starts with friends. Cilantro is another easy one that can be used as the leaf or seed (coriander). Please enjoy your growing and you can always change what you don't like. mille

African Blue Basil is a great ornamental herb. The leaves have some purple in it and the flowers are small and pink. The bees love it! Lemon thyme is great to cook with and tri-color sage is also great for looks. Rosemary is a must for cooking as well as reg. basil and chives. THat's my list for now.

ps- I grow lime and lemon basil from seed and make a "7-up' type jelly!

Aunt Millie - Thank you for your suggestions. For cilantro if I keep cutting it down and not let it go to seed, will it keep its flavor.

Stargazer -African blue is beautiful! I will have to keep my eye out for it at the nurseries! Thanks for the suggestions!

thanks for asking!, cilantro has a growing habit much like parsley, break off what you want whenever you want it will continue to grow. I grew mine 2 years ago and was primarily after the seed (coriander) for my sister who has never used it!! I am contemplating planting a small amount of it this spring. I work out of raised beds in my back yard and my major function is keeping one dog & two cats from digging in the beds. Even if you don't use herbs for cooking, growing them amoung other shrubs, roses and vegetables looks so pretty. Enjoy!.- aunt millie

which herbs are hardy to zone 5? can someone list the herbs?

The list is way too long for here, it can run into the tens of thousands! Z5 still is good for dill, cilantro, basil, thyme, and many others. Your local nurseries can give you some indication, and seed packets of herbs will also state the growing zones. Herbs is just a general term and refers to any kind of plant that has a flavor, odor, and/or medicinal use.

teryaki gives you some excellent ideas but I would be careful with the comfrey 'bush' centrepiece. It is not a shrub as this description implies but a very vigorous and very hardy perennial which can spread widely and is hard to get rid of. Also it likes damp rich conditions which would not suit your Mediterranean herbs. If you do choose it make sure you get Symphytum officinale and not Symphytum uplandicum or one of the other species by mistake as they can become complete thugs.

Lovage is a tall perennial herb that has a strong celery taste and can be added to your recipes. It is a nice green backdrop at the back of the garden.

Some parsley in the front. Replant parsley each year. It is a biennial, a 2 year life cycle, but I've never had it do anything the second year.

Sage is a beautiful green-grey plant with fuzzy leaves. It is a perennial, wonderful with chicken and even in tea. The violet-blue flowers (color varies) are beautiful and great bumble-bee magnets.

Oregano is very hardy and tolerates (actually it kind of required) very regular harvesting. It is a perennial with pink-lavender flowers.

Basil, too many varieties to count and wonderful in pestos, thai cuisine, tomato sauces, fresh mozarella/tomato/basil salad and more. Easy to start in-doors and transplant out or direct sow if conditions allow. An annual, if you are wondering.

Chives, a wonderful perennial onion relative. Lovely topped on eggs, baked potatoes, in salads, etc. They have lavender flowers which are edible too.

Garlic is wonderful addition. They bloom white (the classic ball-like blooms of the allium family) and can be harvested for bulbs or greens. The hardneck varieties, as noted in other posts, are the most hardy.

Some nasturiums. They are annual flowers but they are lovely and the flowers and leaves taste wonderful and peppery in salads. Depending on the variety, they can trail and wander a bit but harvest off what gets in the way.

Tuck in a beautiful cayenne pepper. The plants are pretty and the peppers are wonderful! Beauty and usefulness! Annual, of course.

Dill, cilantro (coriander), and anise are easily started from seed and are annual plants used for seed or leaf. Too many recipes to note for these! If allowing to set for seed, they can tall, especially dill.

A nice rugosa rose tucked in the garden will offer up lovely tasting flower petals or hips in the fall. The rugosa is a hardy, large hip producing rose that needs little to no pruning.

Some sweet violets tucked under larger plants offer some very tasty flowers as well as beauty. These come out early and will race the chives to be the first to bloom in an herb garden.

Add to this some pot marigold or calendula. One of my favorites and once it starts to bloom it will do so until the killing frost in the fall. The plant can be used for culinary uses but mostly medicinal. It is a great pollinator attractor. Annual and dead simple to start from seed.

I focused on some simple and easy edibles for you.

FataMorgana

Do any of these herbs, for zone 5, do well in the shade? I am making a rock garden under a big lilac bush and wanted to plant some interesting herbs and plants in there.

Feverfew does fairly well in light shade. Parsley, cilantro, dill, anise, and lovage would probably also survive, but not get nearly as large as in full sun. Feverfew and parsley can be kept clipped fairly short, but the others have a persistently linear growth habit.

Of necessity I am also growing basil, lemongrass, pineapple sage, pineapple mint, Greek oregano, and chocolate mint in part sun. None of them will grow as rapidly as they would in full sun, but they all like a reasonable amount of water, which part shade helps to preserve for them in the heat. The Gooseberry bush will also grow in part shade--but they spread, and would be too tall for a rock garden.

Comfrey will grow in part sun, and oregano will also survive with part sun, but not as happily.

Give as much sun as possible to the thymes and sages.

Your success will depend in part in how your land is oriented in regard to the sun, and whether or not reflected light will shine on the spot you have chosen. For example, if the spot receives unobstructed, indirect light from a street or driveway or reflected light from a white or light-colored house, you will have more of a chance with your herbs, most but not all of which are happiest with full sun.

Not all herbs are perennial anyway, but you will have better success wintering over those which are, that receive sufficient sun to store enough food to come back next Spring.

If your rock garden is to be quite small, the taller herbs would look better to one side of it rather than in it.

What you can offer, which most herbs will like, is the good drainage associated with a rock garden.

Oops! I meant fennel, not anise--fennel tastes a bit like anise, but looks something like dill and can pollinate it.