Sensory gardens with edible plants: fig with herbs

James Lawrence, RHS Principal Horticultural Advisor, has designed this simple, attractive and, most importantly, sustainable border design for you to try at home, with plants that are easy to grow, widely available and look good together.

James Lawrence

The main function here is to provide plants that are tasty and aromatic but also look good and provide interest throughout the year.

The fig will create a focal point for the scheme and provide fruit for birds and wildlife, as well as yourself. The tall fennel will give the scheme an airy, see-through feel, but also produce edible seeds, roots and leaves.

The ground cover of herbs will give off an aromatic scent if brushed against, as well as helping to reduce moisture evaporation from the soil surface and suppress weed growth.

Using an organic mulch, preferably homemade compost, while the plants establish can help to provide the same benefits. Mulches should be spread when the soil is already moist to help trap some of that moisture before it dries out in summer.

1 - Foeniculum vulgare ‘Giant Bronze’ is a robust, aromatic short-lived perennial

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs. with pinnate copper-bronze leaves bearing flat umbels of small yellow flowers in the summer.

2 - Ficus carica ‘Brown Turkey’ is a large deciduous

Deciduous refers to plants (mainly trees and shrubs) that lose their leaves seasonally, usually during autumn. This is a natural process triggered by the season's shorter days and lower temperatures and allows plants to conserve energy during the winter months. shrub with bold, deeply lobed leaves and insignificant flowers followed by edible fruit which start green and ripen to purple.

3 - Salvia rosmarinus ‘Severn Sea’ is an evergreen shrub bearing aromatic, linear, dark green leaves, and bright blue, two-lipped flowers in clusters in spring and summer.

4 - Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’ is an aromatic, semi-evergreen dwarf shrub with purple young foliage and stems, becoming grey-green with maturity. It bears heads of purple-blue flowers in the summer.

5 - Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’ is a semi-evergreen sub-shrub forming a spreading clump of wiry stems bearing golden-green leaves and clusters of light pink tubular flowers from summer into the autumn.

6 - Salvia officinalis ‘Icterina’ is an evergreen dwarf sub-shrub with aromatic, grey-yellow variegated

Variegated means having leaves or other plant parts with streaks, blotches or patches of different colours. Typically, these would be a combination of two colours, such as green and gold or green and white. leaves with heads of pale purple-blue flowers in the summer.

7 - Thymus Coccineus Group is a low-growing, evergreen sub-shrub forming a carpet of very small, dark green, aromatic foliage with clusters of deep red flowers in summer

Growing your own fruit and herbs is a great way to eat more healthily, and gives you total control over what goes into your produce, from the soil it grows in and water it receives to ensuring that it is organic and pesticide

A pesticide is a substance designed to kill or control the growth and behaviour of living organisms. It is also known as plant protection product and includes insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and molluscicides. The RHS doesn’t support the use of pesticides and recommends that gardeners use non-chemical control options whenever needed. -free. Planting schemes containing edible crops help to reinforce that growing your own food can improve health and overall well-being.

This simple planting plan helps create depth, interest and good coverage in the border.

Using the ethos of ‘right plant, right place’ to create a sustainable planting combination is great for the environment. It helps avoid waste and the use of products and practices needed to try and help ailing plants, such as the application of fertiliser. It also creates robust, long-lived planting that benefits soil health and garden biodiversity

The variety of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms) in a particular environment. Boosting the biodiversity of your garden has many benefits, including supporting wildlife, improving soil health and reducing the likelihood of pest and disease problems. . For more information about sustainable gardening, please see the RHS Sustainability Strategy.