Spice up your garden

There's nothing like food seasoned with herbs fresh from your own garden.

And their fragrances bring magic every day.

But herbs can also be attractive to look at, adding beauty to your garden until you need them inside.

Here's a little secret: Some herbs that might seem the most plebian and unexciting are more colorful if you choose the right variety.

We are thinking of pineapple mint. You might consider mint a bit boring, common perhaps, but the yellow or pineapple-colored splashes on the leaves brighten things up.

Here are some herbs chosen in a little beauty contest from the greenhouses at The Planter's Palette in Winfield.

Herbs generally like well-drained soil and full sun, and many need to go inside for the winter. These attributes make them great container plants, but they can also be grown in your garden.

The rules for companion plants are easy to figure out -- put them with others that like the same amount of moisture and sun and consider a contrast in colors and textures.

Watch out so the invasive herbs -- such as mints -- don't push out their friends.

Edible flowers you might want to consider planting with your herbs include nasturtiums, bee balm or monarda, daylilies and violas.

Rosemary Huntington Carpet

Charms: Like all rosemaries, this smells great and its culinary uses include roasted meats and some vegetables. This trailing variety is known for its blue flowers.

Companions: Roses look great with rosemary. The herb might help keep insects away from the flowers, but plant away from the roses' roots, which won't like being disturbed when you move the rosemary indoors. Or consider gaillardia with orange and lemon blooms. Another choice is Ogon, a chartreuse sweet flag or grasslike Japanese rush.

Oregano Puerto Rican

Charms: If you're joining the succulent craze, this will fit in your garden. It's not a real oregano, but can be used like one -- or try it with cilantro in salsa.

Companions: Choose any beautiful flowers like rudbeckia, black-eyed Susan or cosmos. Angelonia Angel Mist comes in several colors, and Lantana Patriot Desert Sunset presents a multitude of shades.

Thyme Doone Valley

Charms: In spring the leaves are variegated with gold. One gardening idea is to plant it around stepping stones. Many thymes are hardy, but this one is borderline in our area.

Companions: Lady's mantle, a hardy herb used in skin-care products, features broad leaves and chartreuse flowers.

Fennel Sweet Florence

Charms: The delicate, fern-like, fine-textured leaves grow to about 2 feet tall. Although not hardy, this fennel will drop a lot of seeds so you can have new plants next year. You can use the leaves as an herb, but this type of fennel also produces a bulb that is considered a vegetable delicacy.

Companions: Verbena Superbena with its bright-colored flowers will work well.

Mint Pineapple

Charms: The prettiest mint of all makes a great garnish with fruits. As with all mints, watch out for invasiveness, but pineapple can grow in partial shade.

Companions: Giant Snowflake produces a larger flower than most bacopa, and the red blooms of Totally Tempted cuphea provide great contrast. Phormium or New Zealand flax can make a vertical backdrop. Pineapple mint can grow in a container with an upright rosemary or hyssop, also from the mint family.

Herb facts were collected from:

• Anda Petrescu, horticulturist at Planters Palette in Winfieldbull; Abbie Rea, assistant manager of horticulture, Morton Arboretum, Lislebull; Linda Miranda, senior horticulturist, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe.