Ok, a few things. I've personally found oregano to be far more invasive and misbehaved than mint, and mint is pretty rambunctious. I'd put both in pots, on concrete (to keep the roots from escaping into the ground). And even then, it will probably spread via seeds. Mint and oregano are appx. 18-24" tall at maturity.

Thyme is usually very well behaved in all its various forms. The creepers will creep somewhat, but not in a thuggish manner.

Lemon Verbena is only reliably hardy to Zone 8. I had it in a very protected part of my Zone 7 garden in NM, and was always relieved and somewhat surprised each year it came back. It stayed quite small, even though it was planted in the ground (12-18") - in mild climates it is a true shrub.

So, in your Zone 6, if you want to hold it over from year to year, you'll probably want to put that in a pot as well so you can bring it indoors for the winter. I'm not sure how it will react to being indoors, but it will almost surely die if left outdoors in Z6.

I've seen reports of it coming back as far north as zone 5, but I can only guess those plants are in incredibly protected parts of the garden, or the gardener has taken extra precautions to help it through the winter.

I have a large garden (over an acre), so I allow mint and oregano to go where they please - and the oregano patch is far, FAR more out of control than the mint. It's almost as big a thug as Shasta Daisy, LOL! At least the mint and the oregano smell good - Shastas stink!

Bob,
Thanks for the help! I did go ahead and plant each in their own pot (except the thyme, I planted that in a container with some new tomato plants). I constructed a platform of sorts with some concrete blocks and set them on that. It's up next to the house so I hope they don't bake in the sun, but they get a fair amount of shade until about 3pm. We have a sunroom in the house that I can overwinter the lemon verbena in, and I suppose anything else that needs to come in.

Thanks for your help!!!

Hi, kelleyp125! I do want to reiterate what abq bob said about oregano. I've got mine in a raised bed and it's constantly trying to crawl out, and I've actually had it happily growing between the side of the bed and the concrete patio, in about 1/4 inch of space that it found room to squeeze into. Have you considered dill? It's self-seeded for me, and it doesn't seem to be deep-rooted so it might do very well for you. Plus, you get "two for the price of one" Â the leaves are delicious, and the seeds are wonderful too.

I'm a relative newbie too. What I've learned is that what will grow like gangbusters for me one year will limp along the next, in the same conditions. Maybe it's a difference in where the plants come from, and I'm planning on starting more things from seed indoors next year.

Lots have been said on growing all of these herbs. You can search through the back posts of this forum for all sorts of gardening wisdom. Go to the bottom of the title screen for this forum to find the search bar. Good luck and happy reading!

FataMorgana