You're really not asking a lot. There are lots of herbs that survive zone 5. Some, you just really need to learn the varieties, as some will and some won't. Lavender is an example--some English varieties will handle z5, but most French or Spanish varieties won't.

I'm similar in temp, but differ in humidity, so others in your eastern climate may correct me. Mints and lemon balm are very invasive and will take over if you put them in ground. Chamomile reseeds readily here, with no issues with the temps. Sage and thyme you're good on. Greek Oregano is another good option, either onion or garlic chives, and parsley as a biennial. Lesser known like sorrel, burnet, lovage, tarragon, fennel, winter savory, and anise hyssop all survive here without issue. I wouldn't try rosemary or marjoram--you may get overwinter, but not enough bounce back in summer to make it worthwhile.

Basil, cilantro/coriander are easy seed annuals. Parsley if you grow it as an annual too. I keep my rosemary, lemon verbena, scented geraniums, and some of the perennials in pots to bring inside with lights over winter, but it requires a different level of care. I don't do much with medicinals, so you'll have to get advice on those from elsewhere.

Balloonflower (love your namesake!), that is exactly the kind of information I am looking for. Many thanks! It felt like a tall order because so many of the herbs I use are not hardy here. Now I have a list of things to experiment with.

Though I have been a gardener for many years, I am new to herbs and will probably stalk this forum :) The mint I do have corralled and I have a three-ish year old lemon balm that does re-seed freely. Where I have it, the seedlings are normally only within 5' of the parent plant and easy enough to hoe. I find the minor nusiance to be worth my effort for the scent and delicious tea.

Sure wish I could grow lavender! It is not happy in my heavy midwestern soil. I grew it before in an amended raised bed but we got an extra wet winter and that was the end of that.

Thanks again for your recommendations!

The variety of lavender matters as much as location. Last year I had Hidcote, Hidcote Pink, Lady, Vera, Munstead, Provence, Silver Edge (two of them), Grosso, Elegance Ice, and Elegance Sky. About two thirds of these were planted last year.

The two Hidcotes are planted in amended soil and are being shaded until about noon or so by a birch tree and some shrubs so they aren't growing as fast as they should. They both made it through the winter but took some damage. (I really need to move them.) The Hidcote Pink was planted last year, the Hidcote was planted two years ago.

Grosso died over winter. I had it for years in an ideal spot with good soil and full sun but it never did well during my winters. It would always have a lot of dieback except for one mild year. The most I ever got was about a dozen, maybe two dozen, flowers in a year.

The two Silver Edges were planted on opposite sides of a sidewalk in full sun. They both died over winter. The soil where they were planted is very poor, almost like concrete, even though I've tried to amend it. They were planted here for a couple of years and never grew well (almost nothing except garlic chives and blue festuca grass grows well there).

The others were all planted in a raised bed in full sun last year. Munstead, Provence, and the two Elegances took some damage over winter but rebounded beautifully and are putting on quite a show right now. Lady and Vera, on the other hand, took damage but didn't bounce back as well. They are regrowing (not flowering) and I have high expectations next year as long as they don't take any more winter damage.

All of these were Lavandula angustifolia (English lavenders) except for Grosso, Provence, and Silver Edge which are L. x intermedia. Although I'm not entirely sure about Silver Edge because depending on the source it will show up as either L. angustifolia or L. x intermedia.

Apologies for the length. Basically what I'm saying is don't give up on growing lavender. Just keep searching until you find a variety or two or three that grows well for you.

Rodney

Rodney, thank you for the detail. I adore lavender and the possibility that I could find a variety (or two or three!) that will survive here is very exciting.

I believe I had 'Hidcote' based on a recommendation, but I'll check my notes tonight.

I have had a Munstead lavender plant survive the last 5 years or so in Zone 5. I even dug it up and split it this year and it seems fine even after this last really cold winter.

Here is a link that might be useful: My garden blog

Very glad to hear it aliweed. I'll check her out.

I checked out your blog and the post about the no chemical yard anxiety made me laugh, only because I am in the same boat. I am a no herbicide/pesticide gardner (though I am seriously considering herbicide for bindweed!) in a neighborhood of perfectly trimmed meatball and twinkie shaped evergreen shrubs and yards without a dandelion. :)

I'm in NH. Calendula/pot marigold and borage seem to self sow readily in my vegetable garden.
Variegated sages do not over-winter for me. Maybe if I gave them some protection.
Lovage, salad burnet, sweet cicely and sweet woodruff overwinter and I have had seedlings of salad burnt and sweet cicely.

I'm zone 5, ME.
My Mammoth Dill self seeds each year - with exuberance! To the point that everyone I know has babies in their garden. So does Calendula.
My Greek Oregano has been hardy 5 winters. I lost my Thyme last year- dont really know why. Krausa Parsley is winter hardy for me. I got the seeds from either Fedco or Johnny's which in my opinion do a better job with cold tolerant seeds- in labeling if nothing else. My chervil also self seeds.

Excellent, thanks defrost and localeater! More things to add to my list; so glad I asked here. I'll check those sites you listed localeater.

I'm zone 5b East Coast - and more on the medicinal side of things. Most Echinaceas overwinter, never had a problem with the Artemisia's (mugwort, wormwood, etc.), and the foxglove is becoming invasive for me since it just re-seeds so prolifically.

Horehound (as well as catnip and catmint) will easily survive and spread and if you have shade, Ginseng and Goldenseal will do just fine (though both are really slow growers)

Now to the invasives for me - Anise Hyssop is just about as bad as Valerian or Garlic Chives ... they survive just fine but if you let them go to seed they're everywhere.

Other (different) perennial things you might want to look at would be Prickly pear and hops (if you have a really tall place).

For annuals, you've got a lot of options as others have said. If you'd like to be a bit more adventurous, you might have enough time for castor plants (if you're careful) or even Spilanthes. I've done Stevia in pots but it really didn't like coming in for the winter.

Fantastic; thanks for the ideas makalu! Many of the things you list are probably not locally available to me. Do you have an online vendor you would recommend?

Prickly pear cactus is hardy in zone 5? Or do you mean something else by that name?

Hi GreenHearted - depending on what I am looking for, I usually go first to www.companionplants.com and decide if I want to spend that kind of coin for instant gratification (they do have wonderful plants!) or if I'm not in a big hurry I head to www.horizonherbs.com (their shipping can sometimes be sketchy but I've always gotten the seeds in the end and my germination rate with them has been very good).

Yep - Google for Eastern Prickly Pear (it's either Opuntia compressa or humifusa ... I can't remember off the top of my head). It should be hardy to at least zone 4 and, though it was seriously not happy, it made it through my -10 degree temps last winter.

I greatly appreciate the info, makalu!

I found a pretty informative link on the Eastern Prickly Pear. (O. humifusa according to this info) So cool! Thanks for bringing it to my attention. So are the fruits edible/medicinal?

Here is a link that might be useful: Eastern Prickly Pear

I've never used the fruit directly so I can't say. Normally, if I have a good year with them, I take a few of the pads off, peel them (carefully!) and fry them up. Also, I've used the peeled pads rubbed on a burn (very similar to Aloe) and it did the job.

Otherwise, I let them go to seed and at the end of the season, dry the seeds and grind them in a coffee grinder and then use it (kind of looks like flour) as a thickener in my hot and sour soup instead of cornstarch.

If you believe some of the studies out of Mexico, the prickly pear will help with everything from diabetes to cholesterol and hangovers but I think more research would need to be done before I'd trust it.

It is one of the few plants in my garden that neither my cat or any other critters bothers with ... wonder why ;)

Oooo, that thickener sounds interesting. I do a lot of gluten free cooking and always looking for alternatives. Glad to know the pads are edible too.

I know what you mean about kitties; I have a lovely collection of cacti as my dining table centerpiece because it is the only way to have any surviving greenery on the table!

Motherwort would probably do well further north but it reseeds prolifically and is a bit spiny. The bees are supposed to love it, though.

It does well in part shade.

I bought my first plant at Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. A new director did away with plant sales; I used to find some interesting herbs there. :o(

Thanks for the recommendation, eibren. Interesting looking plant. I see it is in the mint family and can be very enthusiastic :-) Glad to hear that bees love it... we seem to have very few bees out here which makes me sad.

It really spread in my back garden for several years, but then for some reason (maybe increased shade) almost disappeared back there. Now its most noticeable remnant is at the edge of my front driveway, right next to the sidewalk, and in one pot about ten feet from that which it somehow seeded itself into.

Something is moving the seeds around...a bird?

I have actually conjectured that complaints regarding this particular plant may have contributed to the ending of herb sales at Sturbridge. Its initial spread was a bit alarming.

It wasn't much worse than my Lemon Balm experience, and not nearly as astonishing as my Yellow Archangel one, though.

:o/

Hi GreenHearted - sorry for the late reply ... was off getting soaked on a hiking trip in the Catskills for the weekend. Since you do gluten free cooking, why not try some Hopi Red Dye Amaranth as an annual? I'm pretty sure it's gluten free, it's a great food coloring and it produces tons of seed for a grain. As an annual, it re-seeds prolifically in late summer / early fall and you just pick out the young ones next year for salad and let the rest grow where you want them. Here's a look at one of mine which is just starting to put out flower heads: (they're a lot redder than the photo and please ignore the shallots (and that damn gill!) in the background ... it's getting time for the shallots to die back and the interplanting works for me).

Eibren, that's a bummer about the herb sale coming to an end. Well, if motherwort's spread is comparable to lemon balm, then I think I can handle it. My LB just started blooming, so I decided to cut it back. We'll see if that helps next year. I also have some sort of catmint that reseeds. I don't really mind that much... I'm rather fond of a little chaos in my gardens :) As long as the seedlings are easy enough to remove if I don't like where they've landed!

Makalu, that plant is gorgeous! And I love how you caught it backlit like that. I'll have to add that to my list. A dye too, hmmm? I make my own soap and wonder how it would hold up in that. Thanks for the recommendation!

Yesterday I had to run to the home improvement store to get some black plastic for a garden overrun with bindweed (probably an exercise in futility, but I'm going to try and kill it) and while I was there, I found a hops plant 'Bianca' and a chamomile plant for 50% off so I adopted them =)

Yes, I'm rather broken-hearted regarding the new Sturbridge policy regarding herb sales. I used to acquire two or three new herbs each year by stopping by there on my way to or from the Boston area. IMO it was one of their more significant contributions. So far they are continuing their line of traditional seeds, but when I bought some in June they were totally out of all their bean varieties.

They also seem to be trying to gradually block public access to their herb garden, which until now was accessible to members of the non-tourist public that patronized their gift and book shop. Their herb garden is very interesting and instructive, and well worth the trip to the RT 84 exit from the Mass Pike, from which Sturbridge is easily accessed. It is terraced on three or four levels, and always has a nice variety of herbs, with some of the old roses on the top level. There are some old wooden benches to rest on under a nice, shady tree about half way up, which is a definite boon on hot days. I had an interesting encounter with a chipmunk there this summer; it was happy to ignore me while it checked for seed pods on one of the herbs.

They usually have several nice books on herbs in their book shop, too,

If hops doesn't deter you motherwort probably won't, either, but in some situations it can definitely be worse than lemon balm. You will probably want to keep an eye on it once it begins to set seed.

In the clay soil in my area, I have had much better success overwintering sage and thyme outside in pots rather than in the ground, as that provides the "sharp drainage" they prefer. The only herbs that have really done well as "perennials" for me here are the ones that reseed or spread by runners, though--lemon balm, black peppermint, sage, thyme, motherwort, oregano--imo most herbs are only short lived perennials in my area unless frequently divided and replanted. I admire people that keep their herbs going by rooting and etc., but I have broadened my herbal interests to include things like forsythia buds and honeysuckle blossoms from plants that truly perennialize in our area, to salve my disappointment over not having neat little rows of all the common kitchen herbs coming back each year. So many of them just don't, without really skilled handling. ..or, at least, the full sun that I simply can't give them. Ah, well; even my walnut tree's leaves have herbal uses....

Hmmm, I tried posting this earlier and it didn't work...

Oh dear eibren, have I opened a can of worms by planting hops? I really don't know anything about it; it was an impulse buy. Here's a picture (this cutlivar is 'Bianca' , it is supposed to have the yellow-green leaves but not all that dead stuff I should have cleaned off before snapping this photo!):

And here is my sage 'Berggarten'. Isn't he handsome? I sure hope he comes back next year.

Hops can reseed if you have a female; I notice Richter's is not able to send their many Hop offerings to the US. Just Google it for more information.

Once established, it can be quite persistent. I have some on my garden arch. It comes back every year, despite great competition and no encouragement. The young tips are edible, though.

Comfrey is similar in its persistence.

Thanks eibren. I had a hard time finding much information on the 'Bianca' cultivar but I did learn it is a hybrid of 'Sunbeam' and was able to find more information with that lead.

I Googled how to tell a female from a male plant and it looks like the flowers are different. The females get burrs and the males get flowers that look like bunches of peas. More waiting and seeing for me!

Berggarten sage is a biennial and has amazing large flowers.

Your calamint is cute! It looks very happy.

My hops is in partial shade and has never set catkins, but I am assuming it is a male--apparently all they allow sold in this area.

Here is a link that might be useful: nice online herbal

I love Botanical.com but didn't think to look Calamint up -- thanks for the link!

Huh, I read that Berggarten rarely blooms; I had no idea it was a biennial. I guess I should try to take cuttings next spring because I really love it.