The joys of herb gardens

As well as looking and smelling fantastic, herbs are endlessly useful, an online resource has asserted.

Tourism board VisitBritain explains that todays herb gardens provide plants for a range of purposes, including curing common ailments, flavouring food and dying cloth.

For examples of established gardens of this variety, the site recommends a visit to Pitmedden in Scotland which features a box-edged parterre which is filled with period herbs, while cotton lavender and rosemary are located in compartments of coloured gravel.

Elsewhere in the British Isles, the resource suggests a trip to the Royal Horticultural Society Wisley Gardens in Surrey, where flora includes varieties of coriander, parsleys and mints.

Chesters Walled Garden in Northumberland features a 30-metre bed of pink, white and red thymes.

Meanwhile, online resource Garden Organic explains that March is the time to begin removing protection from more tender herbs during the day, due to rising temperatures.