A Big Beautiful Herb!

I can't remember when this has happened before, but the angelica never bloomed this season.  It is a biennial herb and it is all leaves the first year and blooms the second.  It felt strange not to have one angelica that bloomed.  We always let them all seed to keep it going.  So you would think I would have a second year plant in the bunch.  Did you have any herb that surprised you this season?  Please let me know with your comments. 

Windy and warm in the herb garden today.  Hope you are enjoying these quick posts about the garden.  Now that I understand how Blogger works, I will post more quick herbal posts and when I'm on my laptop I will do the travel ones.  Hope you are enjoying your herb garden.  Talk to you later.

Still Blooming and Green in the Herb Garden!

This is my second attempt at this post.  Just trying to see if it works with multiple photos.  I maybe a bit greedy.  We will see.   'Walker's Low' catmint is the first photo, the dianthus 'Frosty Fire' is blooming in the second photo and the coconut scented geranium is happily spreading joy in the fall herb garden in the third photo.  It will probably reseed itself for next year.

The weather was gloomy this morning and the sun has come out this afternoon.   Makes it more cheery.  Hopefully you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.  Talk to you later.

'Walker's Low' Catmint

'Frosty Fire' Dianthus

Coconut Scented Geranium at Home!

The Herb Grower Magazine

Been trying to come up with a way to blog with my phone.  It might not be the best, but I think it is better than with my tablet.  Hopefully I will get better with this as time goes on.

This is a favorite old herb magazine called The Herb Grower Magazine published by the Fosters from the late 40's to the early 80's.  Some of the topics in this February-March, 1951 are More Color in the Herb Garden, Let Me Smell Your Garden, The Chemist's Garden, A Yard of Herbs, Ixbut, Lemon Basil is Not New and the regular columns Cooking with an Accent and The Herbarium.  Hopefully I will talk more about these wonderful Herbal magazines soon.

One of My Favorite Herb Magazines!

Plodding Along The Herbal Path and a Road Trip or Two!

The Herb Garden Still Has A Lot of Green and Gray!

Always Love My Annual Visit to Well Sweep Herb Farm's Christmas Shop!

One of the Beautiful Perennial Beds That Still Had Some Color!

My Afternoon Tea at Sally Lunn's in Chester, New Jersey!

Sharing Tiramisu with The Herbal Husband!

Red Anniversary Roses from Our Friends in Uruguay!

We have arrived in November already!  I can't seem to get on my laptop enough these days to blog!  So here is a recap of the last weekend.  We almost always go to Allentown this time of year.  It is not always on our wedding anniversary, but this year it was.  The Herbal Husband has a toy show that he likes to attend and I almost always go to Well Sweep Herb Farm in Port Murray, New Jersey for the start of their Christmas shop and the Sally Lunn's Tearoom & Restaurant in Chester, New Jersey for afternoon tea even if it is sometimes in the morning when I arrive.  It is a lot of driving for me because remember I drive for your safety and mine!

Can I just say that besides the huge (more than 1,900 varieties) selection of herbs, perennials and exotics, Well Sweep Herb Farm is visually a feast for the senses.  The Hyde family who has owned the farm for 46 years and the quality is consistently excellent from year to year.  If you live in the vicinity, I hope you will support this herb farm with your business.   Their Christmas shop is stuffed full of all kinds of herb related gifts, dried flowers, books, potpourri items, and lovely Christmas and herb related gifts.   Fortunately for us that live further away, they still do mail order.  I have started to order each year just so I have some unusual herbs for my herb garden.  They do have a paper catalog still and you can download their catalog if you would like from their website.  One of my favorite herb farms in the east.  Here is a link to a post I did for Mother Earth Living called Herbal Travels:  Well-Sweep Herb Farm.  So nice to see that they are continuing to prosper.

I continued on down the road to Chester, New Jersey and stopped by one of my favorite tearooms, Sally Lunn's.  It has been in business 30 plus years and is still consistently very good.  It was very busy on Saturday and I sat for a time next to two ladies who had never had afternoon tea and needed to learn the proper way to steep loose leaf tea.  I came to the rescue.  My afternoon tea was delicious as usual and I took a scone, clotted cream and jam back for The Herbal Husband's afternoon tea at the hotel.  Didn't quite have the same atmosphere, but clotted cream is his middle name!

Then we made a reservation at one of our new favorite restaurants in Allentown.  It is called Henry's Salt of the Sea.  It is very cozy with a long bar and booths in the front.  They are known for their French inspired seafood.  I had sea scallops and The Herbal Husband had schnitzel.  We were both happy and we had a weekend of mostly good food and not counting calories.  The Herbal Husband showered me with wonderful gifts and cards.  He told me I got him a toy ship from Italy and I got him a LSU purple fig for his collection at Well Sweep.  We came home to a box sitting on our doorstep full of roses from our friends in Uruguay.  We were afraid they would freeze in the cold, but actually it was like them being in the refrigerator overnight.  It worked quite well.

As far as the herb garden goes, there are still many herbs that have remained green even with the cold temperatures.  I still have a part of the golden pineapple sage that is still alive and blooming, a shoot of a calendula may keep blooming for Thanksgiving (Maybe wishful thinking!) and the tarragon has come back nicely.  As always the chives are nice and green and so is the salad burnet.  All of the herbs we transplanted earlier are doing well.  I was afraid we were too late with our transplants, but they have worked out.  Would like to make a few Christmas presents, herbally speaking.  Here is a link to my post last year giving you links to an artemisia tree and spice wreaths.

Well, I hope you are getting things done more smoothly than I am.  My big project that I am trying to get done is my talk on Shakespeare's Herbs and Flowers for next March.  So please forgive me if I am not around too much.  I will try to post when I can.  We had a rainy day in the herb garden, but still milder than usual.  Talk to you later.

Liberty's, Geffrye Herb Garden and Afternoon Tea at St. Paul's-London, England Trip 2015!

Blue Skies in London-A Blessing!

My New Favorite Store in London!

Just the Look of the Inside Makes Me Smile!

Not a Scone but a Toasted Tea Cake and Earl Grey Tea.  A Mid-Morning Break!

The Plan of the Geffrye Herb Garden

Lots Still in Bloom in the Herb Garden

The Beautiful Water Fountain

The Knot Garden of Santolina

More Santolina at the Geffrye!

Afternoon Tea at St. Paul's

I usually have my whole trip planned out before I go, reservations for tea, gardens to see, train tickets purchased.  I didn't plan on such fabulous weather.  I was hopeful, but in England you always carry your brolly.  I only had one really dreary day when I was in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

First day I decided to go back to the Liberty department store known for its fabrics particularly.  I just love the Tudor feel of the building.  They already had their Christmas shop set up.  It was very festive.  I also carried on the tradition of having a mid-morning break for a tea cake and tea.  Scones are served later in the day!  Always enjoyable.  I knew that the next place I wanted to see again was the herb garden at the Geffrye Museum of the Home.  If you click the first link in the previous sentence, you will read my previous post about my visit in 2014 to this herb garden.  It is one of my new favorites and when I go back to England again, I will definitely be going back for a visit.  I especially love the intimacy of the herb garden as they were in earlier times, a protected garden.  I just sat and enjoyed the space as much as the last time I was there in May, 2014.

The last stop on the first day of my English holiday was St. Paul's to light a candle or two for my friends who are sick and need some blessings and to have one of my favorite things in England or just about anywhere, afternoon tea.  If you are on a budget and you still want a decent afternoon tea, you should try the restaurant at St. Paul's.  It is a very contemporary space in a very old cathedral and it was enough food that I didn't need to eat dinner that evening.  It's off to Bristol in my next England post.

Sort of a dreary rainy warm day in the garden.  Probably our last warm day until next year.  Cut some chives for freezing and lemon balm for drying.  Will try to catch you up on the garden and what has been going on in my next post.  Talk to you later.

Another Herbal Moving Day!

Had to Put The Containers In the Garage Temporarily!

It happens every year.  Shouldn't be a surprise at all.  Worked most of yesterday to get the containers moved into the garage, basement or the living room.  I secretly am always happy for this day.  Even though I didn't feel as connected to my herb garden this year, I did have a lot to harvest.  So I guess it was a success because The Herbal Husband was paying attention, herbally speaking!

The basement is getting full between containers and harvested herbs hanging from the rafters.  Lots of lemon verbena, stevia and lemon scented geranium.  Today I cut the first of the pineapple sages.  We will cover the one in my herb garden with Reemay overnight and hopefully it will survive.  I processed the first pineapple sage into six containers of leaves.  They will stay fresh for at least a couple of days until I can make the jelly.  That equals a couple of boxes of jelly!

I was thinking of cutting my tarragon to the ground, but decided to leave some plant standing because it has seemed to have found the right place to grow well.  In the past I have cut it all and it hasn't come back.  You would think I would learn from my mistakes.

So hopefully you are in better control of what's going on in your herb garden.  It is a bright cool day in the 'Burgh and getting colder.  Will definitely have frost tonight.  Indian summer will be coming.  One of my favorite times of the year.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Have been struggling with the time change and all of the chore of the herb garden.  Not enough time to blog.  Hopefully with the weather changing, I will remedy that.  Talk to you later.

It's About Reconnection and New Connections in England!

I have been very fortunate over the last several years to be able to spend a couple of weeks in England specifically London.  Since I have been retired for so long, a beach vacation just doesn't do it for me.  I have always loved England ever since my first trip in 1966.  I was just a child but it obviously made a big impact for me.

All of my English trips aren't about the souvenirs (well, maybe a little), but of the connections and reconnections made during the time there.  I was lucky enough to see the Queen of Herbs, Jekka McVicar at her lovely and wonderful farm and herbetum outside Bristol.  Also I got to spend time with my herbal sister, Debs and her wonderful, patient husband and our driver, Simon.  We also got to spend time with the gardening dynamo, Marion Monihan, who in the smallest of worlds was a student at Pitt in her early days.  A new connection was a brief one but so reminded me of our friends, Jim and Laverne.  I will tell you about the Liverpool couple who I met at the Kensington Roof Garden.

I have missed so much in the herb garden and you have too.  I am going to try and intersperse herb garden posts with English travel ones.  Hope you will come along for the adventures.  A beautiful day in the herb garden and I am inside catching up on laundry!  Talk to you later!

Jekka and Lemon Verbena Lady in the Herbetum!

Debs, Marion, the Gardening Dynamo and Lemon Verbena Lady!

My Herbal Sis, Debs and Our Amazing and Patient Driver, Simon!

The Lovely Liverpool Couple at the Kensington Roof Garden!

Three Lavenders Contained!

Green Fringed French Lavender

'Goodwin Creek' Lavender

Spanish Lavender

Since my lavenders in the ground didn't do well, I resorted to putting them in containers.  These three did just fine and in fact for the most part flourished!  As you may be able to see, the green fringed French lavender (Lavendula dentata) is in my favorite container of lavender for devotion.  That container sadly got a big crack when it fell because The Herbal Husband used it (without my permission) to plant a tomato plant that was way too big.  He has since mended it and all has been forgiven.  Happy to have my container back with the herb it is meant to have in it!

The middle lavender 'Goodwin Creek' (Lavandula x ginginsii) was purchased in the spring at Trader Joe's and it has had an up and down year.  I think just recently The Herbal Husband has been giving it too much water and it started to die back in the center.  He cut the dead bits out and it is coming back from the bottom.  It is a little too big for a windowsill so we will have to come up with an alternative solution in the coming days!  At least have it positioned near the western windowsill.

The third lavender is a Spanish or maybe a French one or maybe even an Italian one (Lavendula stoechas) but no cultivar name that I bought at Lavender Fields Herb Farm in Virginia.  They just put up their schedule for the fall season.  Getting back to the name, in the United States we called it Spanish, in the UK they call it French and in Australia they call it Italian lavender.  Whatever you call it, it is a very cute grayish green bush.  It hasn't flowered yet and I hope it will make it on a windowsill through the winter.

So it has stopped raining heavily.  Our figs have started to ripen finally.  We got the first of the green figs a couple of days ago.  We are going to have to start moving plants inside sooner than later.  Need to start digging plants up and placing them in containers.  I got a question about lemon verbena from a reader about what happens when it comes inside after doing so well outside.  You are doing everything right Penny!  So refer to the Lemon Verbena Fact Sheet on my home page.  Feels like I have neglected my herb garden this season.  Hopefully, I can get some enjoyment with the cooler temperatures coming.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you maybe!  Talk to you later.    

Recipe for Tarragon Wine Jelly!

Love the Color of Herbal Jelly!

With thanks to the Chattahoochee Unit of the Herb Society of America for inspiration and from An Atlanta Herb Sampler, here is my version of tarragon wine jelly.  I tend to make multiple recipes of one kind in one afternoon.

TARRAGON WINE JELLY
(Make four 8 oz. jars)

1 cup fresh tarragon leaves
2 cups of dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc and a 1.5 liter bottle makes 4 recipes.)
2 T. of vinegar (I used tarragon but you could use rice or white wine vinegar.  You could also use lemon juice.)
3-1/2 cups sugar
A 3 oz. pouch of Certo

First before you start wash your jars and lids in soapy water and boil the jars in a large pot for ten minutes.  Place the lids in hot water until ready to pour.  You don't have to boil the lids.

Measure 2 cups of wine in a medium saucepan and add the cup of tarragon.  Bring to a boil, count to ten and remove from heat and cover for 20 minutes.

Open the Certo pouch and stand it in a measuring cup.  In the meantime measure out 3-1/2 cups of sugar and the 2 tablespoons of vinegar in a second saucepan.  Once the 20 minutes are up, measure out 1-1/2 cups of flavored wine, reserving the 1/2 cup for the fourth recipe.  Add the 1-1/2 cups of flavored wine to the sugar and vinegar and bring to a boil that can't be stirred down.  Remove from burner and quickly add the pouch of Certo.

Return to the heat and bring back to the boil and boil exactly one minute.  Take it off the burner.  Let it sit while you take out the jars and lids.  There will not be foam to skim but there will be a skin to remove.  Pour the jelly and remove any bubbles in each jar with a teaspoon and put on the lids and rings.

Place in a pot of water with the water covering the jars by an inch and boil for 5 minutes.  When removed from the water, the lids should make that popping sound that says they are sealed.  If they don't seal, put them in the refrigerator and use promptly.

Now for the fourth recipe.  You have 1-1/2 cups of flavored wine from the first three recipes and a tiny bit of wine in the bottle.  I was slightly short so I added a couple of tablespoons extra of tarragon vinegar to get to the 1-1/2 cups.  There is your liquid for the fourth recipe.

Just remember once they have cooled to label what it is because making as many different recipes as I do, they begin to look alike!  It is very hot and humid for September in the 'Burgh!  I have been picking raspberries and making jam almost every day for a while.  The Herbal Husband is watering at the moment because we have had no rain for quite a while.  We only had 5 days with rain last month and we are looking dry for the foreseeable future!  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.