Herbs for hot summers/cold winters

[Maykal]

Hey folks,

I'm starting to think about my herb garden that I hope to build this autumn/winter and plant out in the spring. Does anyone know of any perennial herbs that are tolerant of hot summers and cold winters. I'm talking about temps of 30-35C over summer and maybe a month of snow and temps down to -15C in winter. It's not so important what kind of herbs - a mix of herbs for visual effect, culinary use and smell would be good. Area is partially shaded.

Thanks!
Mike

[demi]

Rosemarry, thyme and a local variety of mint with big leaves, survive here. Our winters get down to -20 at some point, and we have had our rosemarry die from extream cold, im talking colder than -20. To make sure all the hearbs dont get wiped out i take cuttings from the outside plants and keep in pots, bringing them in over winter. I'v also got origano, chives, and peppermint in pots which overwinter inside, but i think the chives would survive outside and im going to plant some out in the spring next year once we clear some space in the garden. My mums got chives self seeding all over the garden and the past few winters in Scotland was down below -15 and they all survived. In fact, im sure my mums origano also survived the terrible weather and is still going strong. Maybe ill try planting the origano outside too.....

[Thomzo]

I agree with Demi about the chives and the oregano, they both self-seed prolifically so would probably survive the winters. Fortunately we don't get extremes of hot or cold here so I'm not really speaking from experience. Both are bee/butterfly magnets as well.

Mint roots really easily so you can overwinter indoors on a windowsill. Plants like fennel, lemon balm and sorrell set seed and pop up quite quickly so you could treat as annuals and save the seed for the next year.

If you have larger space somewhere indoors you can keep plants overwinter then I'd recommend keeping bay and lemon-verbena in pots. They both do well in pots (as long as you can water regularly in the heat) but neither is particularly hardy.

Good luck with your project.

Zoe

[sleepyowl]

My sage did well over the -18C winter that we had, the rosemary only just survived but that was down to cutting back the dead parts that weren't protected

[demi]

You can allways provide some protection from the extream cold and snow by covering the outdoor plants with cloches, and removing them when the sun comes out. I assume in Romania its the same as here in that in the winter when its cloudy its really cold and snows heavily and the snow lies on the ground for a long time, but when there's clear skys during the day the temperature can get up to + 20 degrees during the day and you can be sitting out on the balcony in a t-shirt in January.

[Maykal]

Thanks for all the ideas!

Yes, it's pretty cold for a couple of months in winter, usually with heavy snows. Temp can go down as low as -30C and there might be weeks on end when it doesn't rise about zero. I have a few options open to me. I have plenty of space in the barns where I could store plants. It'll still be cold, but at least they won't be under a metre of snow. I can also get some hay and stack that around them, maybe with some ceramic tiles laid on top (I've just redone the roof so no shortage of old tiles).