The only one that spreads for me is the lemon balm... which spreads prolifically, even over fences. :o)

Lemon balm and oregano will spread a lot. And your bee balm might, if the soil is moist enough. The basils and rosemarys won't survive zone 5 winters. Nor will the pineapple sage. Shisho is an annual in zone 5. Dill will self sow, but usually it doesn't get out of hand for me. You might find a different spot for your chocolate mint. It can be very very aggressive.

I will be sure to put that one out towards the back 20:) Then I won't care if it spreads. Thanks.

Tracy

Shiso (perilla) self-seeds prolifically and widely. Years after I got rid of mine (one plant only), I still occasionally find a volunteer coming up in an unexpected place. It's near the top of my list of 'Never Again!' herbs.

Oregano and mint spread far and wide, and quite rapidly, too, mainly by self-layering runners.

Pineapple sage is on the verge of becoming a declared noxious weed in my part of the world. It's on the list of 'plants which potentially pose a threat to the natural environment'. Nasturtium is higher up on the same list.

I must be the only person in the world who doesn't have a problem with lemon balm. It's in a pot, and it stays there, and it never flowers. My theory is that the climate is just a little too hot for it to behave as badly as it would in a cooler climate.

Any plant which self-seeds has the potential to become a weed. That includes caraway, dill, coriander, borage, bergamot - and in my case - parsley! I have a heap of baby parsley plants growing in the cracks between concrete pavers under my clothes line at the moment!

Rosemary is very well behaved and will never become a weed. Neither will common sage.

Basil will self-seed, but it seldom becomes a weed.

thank you to everyone who responded. trying to type one handed, holding my 2 year old right now. if i dont let them flower will they be alright, or is it impossible not to let them flower? thanks again for all the help.

tracy

You can't really stop plants from flowering. You have better things to do in your life than to spend your days snipping off thousands of flowers! My rosemary flowers all year round, so do the basils. You might try preventing the perilla and the dill from flowering, but the best I can say about that is - good luck! If you cut the flowers off the caraway, you won't get the seeds, which you want, so don't do that.

Ok, I get it:) I'm new at this herb thing. I have grown the regular mint and the apple mint the last two years, but they have never flowered, and my intentions if they did was to cut them down. They are getting ready to get a hair cut as it is anyway, to keep them looking tidier. So now I know not to cut the flowers off the caraway. I am still reading up on all the info for the herbs I got. Some I picked out, some my husband picked out cause he uses them (silly man, doesn't he know your just supposed to grow the herbs for something to do??? tee hee) The ones I picked out were just because they sounded neat, like the shisho, and pineapple sage, and lemon basil oh, I did forget that one didn't I, I knew I forgot a few. Thyme also. tee hee. Oh well. But I got most of them for the smells or the looks:) Maybe an upside will be that I will use them too. Thanks everyone for all the great info! You guys are great!

Tracy

I only consider MINTS to be invasive. Because they are perennial and spread throu the roots. And sometimes it becomes IMPOSSIBLE to control them

The annuals that reseed themselves are easy to be managed. JUST PULL THEM IF YOU DON'T WANT THEM, as you do with multitude of the weeds al around the garden.