You Might Have Missed This, Herbally Speaking!

Photo Above is Double White Feverfew!  Borage Flowers, A Bee Favorite!

Clary Sage, Lamb's Ears and White Rose Campion in Bloom!

Apothecary's Rose!

Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur'

Calendula and Golden Feverfew!

One of My Favorites, Golden Feverfew!

The Pink 'Fairy' Rose is Outstanding!

The 'Hot Papaya' Echinacea Has Come Back

The Roadside Day Lilies Have Started Their Display!

Part of the Old Grape Arbor Made Into a New Entrance!

Another Part of the Grape Arbor Into the Front Garden!

Our Deterrents!

Well, June is a week from being history.  I have been struggling mightily to blog.  This post has been a challenge.  I did want you to see what is going on in the garden.  Lots of blooming!  And as I look outside, lots of rain!  Cindy has made its way to the 'Burgh.  We really didn't need her!  It has been raining so much that I mowed in the rain earlier this week.

This is one of my favorite times in the garden.  Lots of herbs are starting to bloom as you can see above.  The bee balm will be in its glory for the fourth of July!  Also wanted to show you the extra items The Herbal Husband made with the old grape arbor.  I think they both add character to our already quirky garden.

We are having a surge in wildlife in the garden, including but not limited to, a groundhog (eating on the driveway), skunk (several sightings at night), possum (having dinner out of our recycling can), raccoon and yesterday a doe brought her two fawns with her for a visit plus the three or four feral cats that roam the gardens.  It's a zoo!

Hope you are having a great day without rain!  I have definitely had enough rain, but the weeds are enjoying the extra rain as always!  Will talk to you later.

The Gray and Green of the Herb Garden Even in Winter!

Still Trying to Make the Germander a Hedge!

I Love the Gray of the Artemisia!

Wow, This Lamb's Ear Has Taken Its Share of the Herb Garden!

Always A Green Source in Winter in the Herb Garden, Salad Burnet!

Well, I didn't think I would be sitting here talking about 40's, 50's even maybe 60 degrees in the herb garden in February.  We may get up to 1/2" of rain tomorrow before we head back to more seasonal temperatures!  I got a memory of February past in my Facebook account this morning that went back to 2011. We had a lot of snow that year. This year not so much.  That is a bit worrisome.

It is such a nice day that I ventured out and took some photos of my favorites in the herb garden this time of year even when it is very snowy.  I also wanted to try and get a list together of moving herbs so that we are on top of it this season.  I need to think about the oregano population in the herb garden.  It is spreading everywhere and taking space where I could have other varieties and you know how I like other varieties of herbs!

Two of my favorite green plants even in the cold of winter are germander and salad burnet.  Germander is a traditional hedge in the herb garden and mine is looking more like a small hedge each day.  And salad burnet that gives you a cucumbery taste in salad and makes a lovely vinegar.  It does not taste so much like cucumber this time of year.  It keeps you in suspense!  The gray favorites are artemisia and lamb's ear.  The artemisia was transplanted late in the season last year and hopefully it will make a hedge similar to the germander.  The lamb's ears are volunteers that need to be moved around.  It will continue to grow out of scale again where I could plant other herbs!  What are your favorite green and gray herbs in the winter garden.

Almost the second week of February and I have been busy with my stitching.  Here is where I am on the afghan.

Square One of Twelve!

I think it will be close to two months of stitching to get all of the squares done.  I will be sprinkling posts in and among the stitching days.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be!  It is another blue sky day and I may get out and take a walk since it is so nice.  Rain tomorrow and maybe even a clap of thunder!  Talk to you soon!

A Tale of Two Herb Gardens!

I Was Going to Talk About This Herb, Yerba Buena in the savory family!

Not a Good Year for Basil in the Herb Garden, My African Blue Basil Bit the Dust!

This Was One of My Favorites, Curry Plant!

A Square and A Round Patch of Thyme!

My 'Mabel Grey' Made a Baby!

'Empress of India' Nasturtium is Blooming!

I Never Have Luck with Agastaches and This One is Blooming!

A Sunflower Volunteer!

A Swallowtail on the Butterfly Bush!

Not Surprisingly the Lemon Verbenas Are Doing Great with All of the Rain!

I don't know why I'm surprised by all of the plants that have rotted in the herb garden.  We have had a lot of rain concentrated in the last six weeks.  I think we had about four days in those six weeks that were dry.  It has been tough.  I have a particular spot in the herb garden that retains water and I will have to amend the soil in that location to help alleviate the problem.

Along with the plants photographed above, I have lost several lavenders and a hyssop.   I have also made the decision not to plant basils in the ground.  I'm strictly going to plant them in containers.  I didn't plant many basils this year and what I did plant in the ground has rotted or is doing poorly.

On the bright side, the pink flowered thyme has migrated onto the patio of the herb garden and has made for a random pattern of square versus curved.  Everything that has been planted in a container is doing well thanks to the loving care of The Herbal Husband.  Have I mentioned he does a great job? 

So excited my 'Mabel Grey' scented geranium has made a baby.  She (I feel as though I should call it a she!) has been very happy in our  living room window for the winter and she came out just recently for the five days of sun and no rain that we are currently experiencing!

I bought an 'Empress of India' nasturtium from DeBaggio's in early May and that is the only one that is blooming at the moment.  An enthusiastic parsley has covered some of the seeds we planted in their usual spot and I'm hoping that once I cut down the lemon basil that is doing poorly, the nasturtiums will do better.

Continuing with exciting herbal news the orange agastache I bought is blooming.  I can kill these very easily.  So it is exciting when it stays alive!  Most of our sunflowers are volunteers this year and the goldfinches are already eating the seeds.  Also discovered this swallowtail butterfly on what else but a butterfly bush.

Last but certainly not least the lemon verbenas are loving the rain.  They were attacked for the first time by the four lined plant bug, but they have rebounded and it looks like I will be making some jelly and drying the rest of tea blends.

Well, as you can see there is a lot going on and I need to write a bit more often.  Next time we will talk about the herbal containers from my class in May.  I have kept some of them intact and they look beautiful.  Also I need to keep talking about the Herb of the Year, Savory.  Hope you have had a great day in your herb garden.  Talk to you later.

The Western Reserve Herb Fest at the Cleveland Botanical Garden!

Will Lynch, a 16 year old that Has His Own Design Business!

One of Mulberry Creek Herb Farm's Miniature Gardens!

A Mini Garden for Halloween!

One of The Reasons We Came to the Herb Fest, The Herb Garden!

Millstones in the Thyme Garden

Pineapple Sage in Full Bloom

A Large 'Snowflake' Scented Geranium

A Lovely Lemon Verbena

The Cleveland Botanical Garden As a Backdrop to the Herb Garden

The Knot Garden

The Dye Garden

A Beautiful Tangerine Sage!

The List of Herbs for the "Garden Square"

The "Garden Square"

Hyacinth Beans in Bloom

Basil Bed Doing Pretty Good

Our Favorite Herb Lady, Kathleen Gips!

Wonderful Herb Rolls and Lemon Tarragon Butter, Yummy!

With apologies for my tardiness in posting this, Bonnie and I took a road trip to Ohio for the Herb Fest at the Cleveland Botanical Garden last Saturday.  The ladies (and maybe gentlemen) of the Western Reserve Unit of the Herb Society of America did an outstanding job making tons of herbal products for purchase.  Bonnie and I do a lot of our own stuff.  We both came home with herb bread and rolls!  We are always happy to see our herb friend, Kathleen.  She was busy answering the public's questions as she was herb lady for the day.

The other thing that we were anxious to see is the fabulous herb garden that is maintained by the unit!  Can I tell you that it is one of my favorite herb gardens in the eastern half of the United States.  Really! They have done their research and have really maintained a quality herb garden.  I told Bonnie that we will have to come back in the summer because it would even be better and it was really good now.  Looking forward to it already!

I am in the homestretch of making jelly.  I made lemon verbena jelly yesterday and today I set up the rose geranium jelly that I will make at the end of the week.  Then I will just have pineapple sage to go.  The pineapple sage is just so beautiful that I can't cut the leaves yet.  I will have my eyes on the temperatures at night.  I think we are going to have a succession of 30's and I will have to cut it then.  Oh, I almost forgot I have another batch of raspberry jam to do (136 jars)!  I was also thinking about making lemon geranium jelly.  So many flavors, so little time!  Maybe next year!

I still have a lot to cut in the herb garden, chives, lovage, salad burnet (going to make vinegar).  And tonight as I was posting this, I remembered there were German chamomile flowers to cut!  So had to turn on the outside lights and work in the shadows to cut the flowers that were ready.  Crazy or dedicated?  I'll let you decide.  Hope you have had a great day and evening!  Talk to you later.

The Pineapple Sage This Morning

Newly Planted Lemon and Maybe Some Lime Herb Garden!

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Newly Planted Lemon Herb Garden!

Well, it is a bit of this and that, but there are lots of lemony herbs and a bit of lime thrown in.  There were established herbs in all of these beds.  We didn't move those out, we just adjusted.  As you all know by now, I'm a plunker, not a designer.  Sometimes I come up with winners and then other times, herbs get buried by their bigger cousins!  So here are the new herbs that are growing in each photo.

Photo One (Spacing in diagram is NOT to scale!)-

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                   4                 7         8                   9         10
                         5                   8    8                 11          12
                                    6                          13          14

1 Big Angelica leaf in the left corner, up toward the rock wall is 2 Lemon-Scented Southernwood (Artemisia abrotanum limoneum), then there is a 3 Swordleaf Elecampane (Inula ensifolia), to the right of it is a 7 'Well-Sweep Golden Variegated' Scented Geranium (Pelargonium crispum) and then there is an 4 Apple Scented Geranium (It's not all lemon!) (Pelargonium odoratissimum) and a 5 Coconut Scented Geranium (Pelargonium grossularioides) and a 6 coneflower called 'Primadonna White' and the three flowers in a triangle are 8 'Lemon Gem' marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia) and a 13 German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) and a 14 Sweet Marjoram (Origanum majorana) in front and 9 is a 'Mabel Gray' Scented Geranium (Pelargonium x citronellum), 10 is 'Lemon Balm' Scented Geranium (Pelargonium x melissinum), 11 'Goldfinger' Scented Geranium (Pelargonium crispum 'Well-Sweep Aurea') and last but not least is my favorite, 12 Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla or citriodora).

Photo Two (Spacing in diagram is really off!)-

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                                             3                                 7                            
             11                     9                         8
       
                         10               12                       13                               

1 The Lemon Balm (Melissia officinalis) that started this crazy design and 2 is the Rosemary Xmas Tree (Romarinus officinalis 'Arp'), 3 is an established oregano that I lost the tag years ago, 4 is a Prostrate Rosemary (Romarinus officinalis 'Prostratus') that came back from the dead, 5 is another established oregano.  I have to check my records and see if I can tell what these two are.  6 is a Lemon Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus citriodora), 7 is a Lemon Catnip (Nepeta cataria 'Citriodora'), 8 is a German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), 9 is a Lime Scented Geranium (Pelargonium x nervosum), 10 is Sweet Marjoram (Origanum majorana) and 11 is my favorite, Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla or citriodora).  P.S. There are established 12 Lavender Thyme (Thymus 'Lavender') and 13 Lime Thyme (Thymus x citriodorus 'Lime') towards the front of the bed.

Photo Three (Spacing in diagram is still off!)-

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             3              4          3

In this space we planted 1 Rue (Rue graveolens), 2 Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) was already established here, 3 Dianthus 'Frosty Fire' (Dianthus x allwoodii 'Frosty Fire') were established and I added 4 Dianthus 'Chocolate' this year.

Photo Four (Spacing in diagram is off!)-

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                                                                                    4

                                                                                     5

                                          6                       7                         8                      6

This space has some established herbs with some newbies!  1 is Lovage (Levisticum officinale), 2 is a Green Pepper Basil (Ocimum selloi 'Green Pepper'), 3/6 is a mix of Oregano (Origanum vulgare) and Chives (Allium schoenoprasum), 4 is Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans), 5 is Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus), 6 are the Chives (Allium schoenoprasum), 7 is a Scented Geranium called 'Charity' (Pelargonium x asperum 'Charity'), and 8 is a volunteer Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantina).  There are also lavenders that took a very heavy hit this winter sprinkled in this part of the bed.

Photo Five-


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These three lemon scented herbs were on the western facing windowsill during the winter.  They were all overachievers as far as size goes.  Remember we have the don't prune policy in our house.  Sometimes when we prune, we kill!  1 is a Scented Geranium called 'Lemon Meringue' (Pelargonium 'Lemon Meringue'), 2 is my favorite Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla or citriodora) and a Scented Geranium called 'Lemon Crispum' (Pelargonium crispum).  They all overachieved on the western facing windowsill.  Once they get comfortable in this part of the bed, I think we will give them a trim.

Photo Six (Once again, the scale is off!)-


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This bed is a jumble of mostly old herbs that took big hits during the winter.  I'm just going to discuss the new herbs and then in a later post if the established herbs do well, I'll talk about them.  1 are one of my favorites Lemon Mint or Monarda (Monarda citriodora) and 2 is a tarragon (2014 Herb of the Year) (Artemisia dracunculus 'Sativa') and 3 are Sage plants (Salvia officinalis).  I had two old woody plants that took a hard hit and now the young plants are being pecked by the birds.  Can't win!

Photo Seven (Scale is off!)-


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                                                     3                  3

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This bed is where we plant our basils and behind in the bare soil, we have planted our nasturtium seeds.  1 is a Summer Savory (Satureja hortensis) I forgot to get Lemon Savory!  Have to remember that for next year.  2 is a favorite Lemon Basil (Ocimum basilicum 'Mrs. Burns Lemon') and 3 is a basil called 'Boxwood' (Ocimum basilicum 'Boxwood').  We have sweet basil plants that are staying in a pot and basil seeds that were planted in pots as well.  We will see how they come along.  It hasn't been extremely hot yet.  It may take extra days to get them started.  Oh, and I got a Lime Mint that is going into a container.

So the last photo shows how it looks.  Why didn't I think of lemon sooner?  Hopefully in a couple of months it will be more filled out.  You know the photos will keep coming.  I just wanted to give props to the passionate herb growers who I bought these plants from this year and previous years, Well-Sweep Herb Farm in New Jersey, Beech Creek Gardens in Alliance, Ohio and Mulberry Creek Herb Farm in Huron, Ohio.  Also, in our immediate area here, I go to Brenkle's and McTighe's.  Those first three are my top three for herb plants.  They all are passionate herb collectors and all grow great herb plants!   We are going to be working on planting sunflower seeds tomorrow, mowing and weeding. (It never ends!)  We are supposed to have three beautiful days in the garden.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.  Talk to you later.