Class Preview: A Potted Herb Garden

Chives in the Discovery Garden. Photo by Karen Webbink

By Annie Yang

Pineapple sage adds sweetness to desserts and drinks.
Photo by A. Yang.

Duke Gardens in the springtime is bursting with thousands of stunning, eye-catching blooms and plants. But some of the plants here can do more than just brighten up a garden—they can spice up your recipes!

The herb garden in the Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden is a perfect place to visit to familiarize yourself with a great variety of culinary herbs, as well as herbs with other uses. And you can create your own container herb garden, and learn how to help it thrive, in "A Potted Herb Garden," a 3-hour hands-on class on Saturday, April 22, with horticulturist and garden designer Lauri Lawson (more info below).

You’ll find some of the most frequently used herbs right in the Discovery Garden, including sage, thyme and sorrel. These and other herbs are quite versatile and can be found in drinks, salads, sauces, and dishes both savory and sweet.

Red-veined sorrel has a tart flavor. Photo: Yang.

Sage is often paired with rich, fatty meats and other savory dishes for its pungent taste, but in the Discovery Garden, you may stumble across another variety of this plant. Pineapple sage makes a wonderful addition to sweet desserts and beverages. It can be incorporated into batter to make pineapple sage pound cake, or it can be crushed and added to cool drinks perfect for the rising temperatures. There are many possibilities to be explored with this herb, and it is not frequently found in grocery stores, so growing pineapple sage in your garden is a great decision. Your palate and stomach will thank you.

The herb garden is also home to many different varieties of thyme, including silver common thyme and lemon thyme. Thyme is a savory herb, somewhat spicier than oregano and sweeter than sage, and it works well in sauces, soups and marinades. Lemon thyme, however, is a sweeter variety and not as bitter as its cousins such as silver common thyme. As you might have guessed, lemon thyme has a lemony flavor and is great in salads, teas and meats. Thyme is another versatile herb that makes a fantastic addition to a number of different dishes and to any herb garden.

Lemon thyme is great in salads, teas & meats.
Photo: Yang.

The bloody dock or red-veined sorrel is another herb that can be found in the Discovery Garden. Its blood red veins stand out against its green leaves and make this plant a real attention grabber. But this sorrel has both form and function. Its leaves are best eaten raw or cooked when they are young and haven’t become too tough or bitter to consume. This sorrel’s somewhat tart and spinach-like taste, as well as its striking colors, can make a salad a little more exciting.

These herbs and their uses are just a small sample of the variety of herbs you can learn about in the Discovery Garden and grown in your home garden.

We hope you'll join us for Lauri's "Potted Herb Garden" class, where participants can broaden their horticultural and culinary horizons with growing information and recipes, and create a 6-plant potted herb garden in a 10-inch nursery container to bring home and grow with confidence. The potted garden options for class may include the following: rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage, basil, chives or mint.

CLASS INFORMATION:

A POTTED HERB GARDEN
April 22, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Location: greenhouse classroom
Fee: $55 Gardens members; $65 general public.
To register: 919-668-1707.

Blogger Annie Yang is a Duke freshman and a work-study marketing assistant at Duke Gardens.