by Kathy Trower

Created on: January 23, 2012   Last Updated: January 24, 2012

Herbs add flavor to any dish.  They are the secret ingredient in south very tasty dishes.

Chef Emerial Lagassee, American celebrity chef, restaurateur, television personality, and cookbook author, advises that fresh herbs are better than the packaged ones.

These fresh herbs can be grown in planters, indoors or outdoors. What herbs do well in planters?

There are many that offer color, along with taste.  These can be planted in a flower planter, giving off a great aroma and wonderful eye appeal. One of these is the chive plant. This herb has an onion flavor, when used in cooking. It also has lovely purple blooms. These blooms compliment a flowering planter. Be sure and put chives in full sun and in well drained soil.

Selection of what herbs to plant is one of personal taste. If you want to choose herbs that you will use often in your kitchen, you should select them for taste.  Better Homes and Gardens suggests grouping plants together for flavor.  Basil, dill, oregano, parsley and sage grow well in planters.  Growing them to use in cooking is very simple.  They need sun and well drained soil, when planted in a planter. Those you don't harvest will bloom tiny flowers to brighten up any planter.

If you want to add fragrance to your planter, choose mint, scented geranium, thyme, lavender and rosemary.  They are good to use in cooking, but in a planter their fragrance is outstanding.  The delicate herbs, such as the geranium and lavender, can be grown in small pots and taken indoors when the weather gets colder.

Basil is an annual, and usually grows 15 inches tall.  It can be grown indoors as well as outdoors, according to "Step by Step Successful Gardening," published by Better Homes and Gardens. Rosemary is hardy in warm parts of the country, and has tiny, pale blue flowers in winter or early Spring.  Thyme is perennial and is used for ground cover in most containers. The tiny flowers bloom in spring or summer.  Lavender is a perennial and blooms in the early summer. The flowers appear on spikes.  Marjoram has tiny white blowers in midsummer. Tansy is a perennial with clusters of small yellow flowers that bloom in early spring.

Some herbs spread quickly and must be contained. One of these is the mint plant. Be sure and watch for this plant to spread very rapidly.  Marjorie Fortier, co-owner of Meadowbrook Herb  Garden in Rhode Island, suggests that to place spreading herbs at the end of planters, so that they can be monitored closely or somewhere in the garden space where they can be mowed over, if they creep too far.

Most herbs can be grown from seed, however, plants grow quicker. When putting herbs in a planter, make sure that the plants are spaced apart, so the herbs can spread to fill the planter.

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