One of my first herb gardens was in the middle of a clay field and it was not a cinch to get plants to grow right. When you are planning your garden, you have got to put natural light and earth quality at the top of the list of things to consider. Without the correct amounts of both light and water, your garden won’t prosper. With the right combination of water, earth and sunlight, you can cultivate just about anything.

To solve my clay dirt problems, I turned to rock gardening, which focuses on adding lots of rocks to your landscape and focusing on herbs that only need a few inches of good soil.

If you have got a similar situation, you can cultivate your own rock garden. Some herb plants truly love the rocky craggy earth that you have in areas like this all over the world. With excellent drainage, adequate sunshine and all the nooks and crannies around the rocks where roots can dig in, rock gardens may be just the thing for you to try your hand at.

Rock gardens work toward keeping the herb compact and controlled. Check your reference books for the right plants for rock gardens. A good rule of thumb are those with silver or gray leaves. This is a big tip-off that these herbs can do well in this environment.

• Hen-and-Chicks: {I can’t imagine cutting open a hen or chick and rubbing it on a wart, but this perennial succulent herb, which is also known as St. Patrick’s cabbage, has a long history of healing them.} Each leaf can hold enough water to make it through one day without water. Your hen will get up to 4 inches across pretty fast. Soon little off-shoots, or chicks, will sprout up from the edges of your hen. In the summer, a nine inch spike will arise from the center of each mature cabbage to show pinkish-red blooms. The plant will continue to add off-shoots and grow into a colony of plants.

• Wild Oregano: Even though this perennial comes from the warm climate of the Mediterranean Sea, it should grow to about 30 inches tall in your herb garden. You can cook with its green oval leaves and be sure to take full, deep breaths of its delightful scent. You will also like the purple blossoms, which should bloom in August. Although you certainly may eat this variety of oregano, it won’t quite be the same as the Greek oregano you are familiar with from Italian meals.

• Marjoram: You can cook with marjoram, but you can use it to landscape your rock garden. It is a perennial that has a sweet scent with oval gray-green leaves and tiny white flowers. For marjoram to retain its shape and form, keep it cut back (use the clippings in your Italian dinners) so that it will keep growing well—full sun and the good drainage in your rock garden can help too.

• Thyme: Because there are so many varieties of thyme, you will want to be sure you’re getting the right type for your rock garden—below a foot high. Use those with shiny, little leaves that are huddled along the woody stems. As an added benefit, these usually have white or pink blossoms. It loves the sandy soils that provide well-drainage and full natural light. You will want to keep this herb trimmed back to maintain its shape and to help it remain hearty.

Part of the wonder of rock gardens is the mix of the hard rocks and the soft herbs. The differentiation in colors also helps in achieving a sense of the awesome. You can even use aromatic and culinary herb plants in your rock garden, which will provide you with all the benefits of a regular herb garden.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Herb Garden Designs. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.