Sunday, May 21, 2017

A Blooming May, Herbally Speaking!

The Angelica in Bloom!
Dianthus 'Sunburst'
Dianthus 'Sunflor'
'Linear Leaf' Thyme
Comfrey Attracting Bees!
Favorite Ladybug on Joe Pye Weed!
May Means Chives Are Blooming!
And A New Addition to the Garden!
I can't believe May will be over soon!  I have been busy on everything except blogging!  Not sure how to get this blogging motor started!  Maybe I will try once a week?  I think I tried that once before without success!

This has been an outstanding spring here in the 'Burgh!  The Rhododendrons have been spectacular and everything else has as well and as always the weeds are surpassing size and tonnage.  Of course, I was behind last year and it just keeps adding up!  We are moving towards a wild forest like garden in the back.  So the weeds will fit in?

All of the spring herbs are up and turning black from the four-lined plant bug! Ugh!  Our abnormally warm winter hasn't deterred them.  Some of my favorite spring herbs are pictured above.  I also try to use my lovage plant before it flowers in our favorite chicken stew recipe.   I love angelica because it is big and takes up space!  I love dianthus because they are an edible flower and a lot of them smell of cloves.  All of the thymes in flower attract bees.  Comfrey is such a pretty plant in flower.  And of course, chives and the herb omelets begin!  Oh and I almost forgot to share my new favorite foxglove!  Isn't it beautiful?
This Apricot-Pink Digitalis Is My Favorite!
 It is also a good time to get started trimming some herbs to dry them before they flower.  As I was walking around the front garden last week, I noticed that the spearmint is up and looking good.  I will try to get out on Tuesday when it is dry to cut some for drying.

As you can see by the last photo, we have a new addition to the garden, a new arbor for the grapes!  It is long overdue.  It is much shorter than the previous version, but maybe it will be more manageable.  We are also planning to recycle some of the old arbor into features and entrances into the gardens.  So stay tuned!

Tomorrow my herbal companion, Bonnie and I are taking a road trip to Ohio to buy some herbs!  Always an exciting day.  We have a rainy day here at the moment!  I hope you are having a fabulous spring day wherever you may be.  Have finished several cross-stitch projects and that has taken a lot of my time up.  I also have been doing reading about herb garden design and the 2017 Herb of the Year, Cilantro/Coriander.  Hopefully I will get my blogging hat on and will be blogging about those subjects and other topics that have been crying out for attention.  Will talk to you sooner than later!    

2 comments:

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

So good to read this post from you. You two are busy and your garden is bursting with herbal goodness.

Have a fantastic week ~ Love & hugs ~ FlowerLady

Carol said...

Your gardens are looking great!! I am so far behind that it would be impossible to catch up so I gave up trying. I just do what I can do. My comfrey has gone ballistics LOL! I have trimmed it way back and it is already regrown and blooming like crazy. SInce it's True comfrey and not the Russian I have to keep on top of it or I end up with comfrey everywhere I don't want it. Hoping to get the fish pond sort of cleared out today.