Cooking herbs add freshness and flavour to our diet. Growing them at home means that a quick trip to the garden or porch pot can bring about a handful of aromatic goodness. Although herbs are assumed to require a full sun to flourish, many herbs prefer to grow in the shade, or at least in partial shade. These shade-loving herbs contain plants native to diverse regions, including the Mediterranean, North America, and Southeast Asia. Some of them are very familiar, others may be even more surprising.
Here are the shade herbs, which are staples in my kitchen. (If you have any favorite shade herbs that are not listed here, let us know in the comments.)
basil
It took me years to learn that basil is grateful for the extremely hot colours of summer. It makes sense when we realize that Ocimum species grows native to tropical Asia and Africa. Basil grows under the perfect sun (with proper watering), but in hot summer climates it thrives in either full tints, afternoon shades, or small tints. The most shaded basil in my experience is purple, Thai and Greek in that order. Lemon basil also likes shade, but sweet (so-called Italian) basil takes away more sun. Purple basil enjoys the shade. During this extremely hot July, my Thai basil is planted in a full sun, withering twice a day, but the fully shaded pot remains more compact, bushy with fragrant leaves and hasn’t bloomed yet. Plus, double watering is not required.
mint
The mint you buy from the grocery store is Mentha Spicata, a semi-aquatic perennial native to Eurasia and Southwest Asia. It loses its invasive potential as it tends to multiply when planted in the ground contained in (large) pots. This mint will thrive in the shade and will guzzle less water than it would be planted in the sun. Harvest the leaves by pinching or cutting them off on another leaf, and watering them deeply, rather than sprinkling the surface of the soil.
Coriander or coriander
Herbal coriander (coriandram sativum native to Southern Europe and the Mediterranean) is also known in the English language, as coriander, but in the United States, seeds are always called coriander. Cultivated in the shade, coriander is slow to bolt and harvests its succulent leaves completely in the sun for longer than the plants. When the flowers bloom, the pollinated flowers form citrus seeds.
parsley
Another soft herb, parsley, thrives in shade half a day or high bright shades. Whether it’s curly or flat-leaf, Petrocerinum Crispam, native to Europe and part of the Mediterranean, will bolt slower when it’s in the shade.
