By Kristen Hannum
Colorado and herbs make for a good marriage. A lot of herbs — arguably the best herbs — love Colorado weather.
After learning about horrors like “melting out” (herbs dying from the inside out from hot, humid weather) from Southern herbalists, Karin Winans, founder of the Rocky Mountain unit of the Herb Society of America, became even more appreciative of our state’s climate, from Paonia to Lamar and beyond.
Herbs provide elegant and homey beauty, herbal health cures and culinary bounty, but it’s quickly obvious that Winans does her gardening with that last category first in mind.
Oregano
Basil is the most rewarding herb in her garden and cinnamon basil is her favorite of all the different varieties she grows. Her rule is to hold off planting until after Memorial Day because putting it in the ground when the soil is less than 50 degrees will stunt its growth. June is perfect for planting basil in most Colorado zones.
Winans uses her basil so frequently in recipes that it’s not a hardship to keep it well pruned. She advises cutting at least the top leaves off with any flowering tops to encourage growth. Harvesting basil is key to healthy plants, and you can harvest as often as every three weeks during the summer heat. Always make the cuts just above new leaves.
Tarragon
While humans love basil, tomato hornworms hate it, so you might want to plant basil next to your tomatoes if you’re troubled by hornworms. Then again, hornworms become those fantastical, heavy-bodied “hummingbird” moths, so you might want to encourage rather than discourage them.
Basil, like most herbs, needs full sun. Winans warns to go easy on the water with basil, as well as just about every other herb, and grow it in a container or a spot with good drainage.
Lavender
Another of Winans’s favorites is tarragon, which has the virtue of being a hardy perennial. A typical dinner with Winans reveals why she loves herbs, specifically tarragon.
She’ll layer buffalo mozzarella (that’s from domestic water buffalo, not bison), chopped tarragon, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, pitted Gaeta olives, quartered artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and shaved Parmesan. Then she’ll tosses that with some herbed olive oil, Pinot Grigio vinegar and, usually, some freshly ground pepper.
Coriander
My own most rewarding Colorado herb is pungent Greek oregano, which I heartlessly cut back every spring. It seems to love the scissors. The bees love it even more than I do. I put bowls of rocks and water out for the fuzzy, buzzy workers and can never bring myself to harvest too many of the flowery branches.
Chives
Other great herbs for Colorado gardens include sage, thyme, cilantro, parsley, mints, garlic and chives. Winans suggests giving chocolate mint a try. She’s famous for her chocolate mint and raspberry-flavored vinegar.
And then there’s lavender. Most Colorado gardens are in hardiness zones 5 through 7, perfect for any one of the prettiest and most fragrant lavenders. Lavender, including the classic Hidcote and Munstead types, are gorgeous plants that are trouble free and worth every inch of space you give them.
I bought herbes de Provence at the grocery store for years, never realizing that lavender flowers are the essential ingredient that makes this herb mix different than the jar of Italian herbs. Other ingredients can include thyme, savory, oregano, sage, rosemary, bay leaf, chervil, fennel, basil, dill and marjoram, depending on the cook or the packager.
Basil
Winans says she always puts it in stuffing; that hint of lavender is a perfect counterpoint to the sage and other herbs.
Bon appétit and happy gardening!