Pennsylvania Herbal Road Trip with Bonnie!

Bonnie and I enjoy going on herbal road trips together.  We have always said that our best times of the day are buying herb plants and having lunch, afternoon tea or dinner together.  So bottom line plants and food are our passions and frankly everything else is irrelevant!  Bonnie needed a break from her routine and so we headed to the east.  I worked on modeling our trip after one of Rosemary House's day trips which we couldn't go on because I was in England.  We were going to stop for lunch at one of our favorites, Jean Bonnet Tavern near Bedford, PA.  I see from their website that they have an herb garden and goats!  How did I miss that?  We stopped on our way home from the HSA national meeting last year on Mother's Day and while it was busy, we walked in and got a seat!  Love this place!

So I wanted to try something new, but tested and the ladies at Rosemary House came up with my answer, the tea cafe at the Oxford Hall Celtic Shop!  I had a chuckle with myself because of course, Bonnie remembered that New Cumberland is where we met up with the Rosemary House bus trips for years.  OK, so I forgot!  It is very easy to find.  Cindy and Steve Washburn have put their hearts and souls into the shop and the cafe.  They are running both the business and the cafe, cooking every day they are open!  Our hats off to their passion in life!  The cafe is a very small space, but they serve lovely fresh food.  I tried the tomato and pesto tart and Bonnie tried the Irish BLT.  Both were very good.  We took some sweet treats, a sugar cookie for me and a molasses one for Bonnie for the road.  Cindy told us the story of the business and talked about putting a green roof on the building and having a garden upstairs.  We would definitely like to see that the next time we are through New Cumberland!

Entrance to the Cafe with Lovely Garden Borders!

My Tomato and Pesto Tart Served with Salad on Top!

Lovely tomatoes in the center with pesto and phyllo pastry!

Bonnie's Irish BLT!

Next stop on the first day was the Ephrata Cloister one of the earliest religious communities in the United States founded in 1732.  Not much gardening here which was surprising.  It was a very peaceful place full of history though.

A Very Peaceful and Tranquil Place!

The Physican's Garden-A German Four Square with dye and medicinal plants

Our final stop on the first day was to Herbal Springs Farmstead.  I was using GPS but with the sound off at Bonnie's behest because she doesn't like to be told where to go!  Unfortunately, I got going the wrong way and the GPS was screaming to turn around even taking me around the block.  I thought it had gone crazy and turned it off.  Then we really got going the wrong way and ended in a bible church parking lot in a cornfield.  Such is life in central Pennsylvania!  We called and talked to the son who got us straightened out and Rhoda was waiting for us!  

A Farm Stand on Steroids!

Lovely Rhoda!  Just Thought of the Mary Tyler Moore Show When I Heard Her Name!

Their Vegetable Garden Behind the House

A Shed With Character!

Really Rhoda Martin has a passion and love of plants and she shows it in all of the choices she has for sale.  Unusual annuals and perennials and a very lovely selection of herbs.  She does hide some of the herbs (not really) but if you aren't looking in the right places, you will miss some real bargains.  And she was selling everything 50% off at the moment.  She said she had to stay competitive in Lancaster County.  We loved Rhoda's prices so much we started the third day with another stop at Rhoda's.  So all in all we had a great first day on the herbal hunt in Pennsylvania.  Can I just say in passing that small businesses need our support.  If you live in an area that has wonderful family owned and operated businesses, please support them with your business!  We ended the day with a steak at Carrabba's Italian Grill in Allentown.   Stay tuned for day two maybe tomorrow!

A beautiful hot and humid day here in the 'Burgh!  More plants to move around and plant!  Hope you had a great weekend.  Will be talking more herbs tomorrow as always.  Oh, BTW I have caught up on all of your comments and questions finally!  Talk to you later.

Moving Day in the Herb Garden!

A Fourth of July Tradition!  Blueberry Muffins!

Happy 4th of July to my readers in the United States!  Hopefully you will have a safe and happy time today!  We had our traditional blueberry muffins for breakfast!  The Herbal Husband and I had another great cloudy day to move some chives out of my main herb garden.  I think they will thrive along with an extra lovage that we love to cook with.  Have a few more plants to fit in and I will just have to keep everything weeded.

Lovage Right Between Two Chives!

My red bee balm is in full bloom in time for the 4th!  Just love the flowers and leaves.  Maybe will do a longer post soon.

The Bee Balm Has Taken Its Own Path in the Garden!

Rain has started here in the 'Burgh.  Hopefully it won't dampen the fireworks tonight!  Hope you have had a great holiday.  Talk to you tomorrow!

If Plan A Won't Work, We'll Try Plan B!

Well, day two of planting and of course we had to have a disagreement on what went where, herbally speaking.  I was hopeful that I would get my way, but in my heart of hearts I knew that The Herbal Husband's plan was better and a bit easier to execute.

I did come up with a plan for the other back bed that I am working on.  We are going to move some of the chives to the back and make a hedge out of it!  That will open up space in my main herb garden that is suddenly out of space.  That's what happens when everything is flourishing.  So we added some space above the rock wall and we both think it has turned out well.

Closeups of These Herbs and Flowers to Follow!

From left to right the herbs and flowers are as follows:  mint scented marigold or Texas tarragon, 'Summer Sunshine' germander, winter savory, 'Hot Papaya' coneflower, 'Apricot Beauty' foxglove, golden feverfew, variegated 'Berggarten' sage, chocolate flower, golden feverfew, 'Orange and Lemon' gaillardia, showy variegated calamint, lilac 'Miss Kim', 'Berggarten' sage and curry plant.

The 'Berggarten' sage and the curry plant

I am going to pull back the pineapple mint so that these plants have a chance.  We had another great day here.  Not too sunny and not too hot, just right!  I also picked another batch of raspberries for jam tomorrow.  I will have a whole box of jam already!  Hope you had a great day.  I will talk to you tomorrow.

Oh Dear! I Mean Deer! And A New Beginning But Have To Share!

I purchased quite a few herbs on this last road trip.  The Herbal Husband has relinquished his veggie garden to me.  So I have had to share space with a few of his leftovers, garlic and a lot of goldenrod!  Oh and a lot of weedy grasses!

A Volunteer Sunflower and Goldenrod Share the Space!

So I put in Mexican sages, a milkweed called 'Hello Yellow', 'Lemon Gem' marigolds, 'Moonshine' yarrow, a perennial bachelor button called 'Amethyst Dream', verbena bonariensis which I hope will self-sow and gray santolina.  Hopefully everything will coexist.

Hopefully only a one time visit!

Oh and we have a new resident under the pine trees.  A young fawn!  Hope it will not find the new garden too enticing!  The Herbal Husband cut some scapes from the garlic and spread it around the perimeter of the garden.  It was a beautiful day in the 'Burgh.  Not too hot and had a little breeze.  Perfect for planting.  Hope you are having a great weekend.  Talk to you tomorrow.

Bye to June, Hello to July! Yikes!

First Batch of Raspberries Set Up June 30, 2016!

First Batch of the 2016 Raspberry Jam Season, July 1, 2016!

So I didn't have such a productive blogging month in June.  Hopefully July will be a bit better.  Am going to try the 31 days of blogging technique I used last December.  I will do my best to catch you up on what's going on in the herb garden and trips.  Yes, I said trips.  I took a short but eventful trip with my herbal companion, Bonnie ten days ago.  OK, we had afternoon tea and bought herbs.  Our two favorite pastimes when we are together.  We are very guilty!  Here are some of the herbal treasures I got from Well Sweep Herb Farm. 

These Need To Be Planted In a Hurry!

Been working diligently to find empty spaces!  It is a huge task!  So hopefully you will see my progress or should I say our progress because without The Herbal Husband's help it wouldn't be possible in the coming days.   So Facebook reminded me this morning that my first batch of raspberry jam last season was set up today.  So I already have a batch done a day sooner!  My summer has begun. We have sort of cooled down in the weather department here in the 'Burgh.  Maybe a bit of rain today, but a warmer weekend with no rain to look forward for the holiday!  So I will just be here blogging.  Please stop by if you get the chance!  Talk to you soon!

Little Herbal Umbrellas!

Don't They Just Look Like Little Herbal Umbrellas?

I guess I am a little too focused on my herb garden at the moment.  The leaves of the nasturtiums are starting to look like little herbal umbrellas!  I guess the rain gauge with 2.5 inches of rain in one day has send me over the edge.  The Herbal Husband planted these several weeks ago before I went to England and I didn't know that he put some fertilizer in the planting hole.  Step away from the fertilizer when planting nasturtiums!  He just doesn't think I am right on this point.  He likes those little herbal umbrellas!  Nasturtiums like lean soil so they will produce more flowers!  There are flowers under those umbrellas and the flowers fared pretty well in the downpours we had a couple of days ago.  So maybe The Herbal Husband is a little bit correct!  Don't tell him I said so!

Here are Those Peppery Nasturtium Flowers in Hiding!

 I also noticed that I seem to get more flowers that have black aphids with purchased plants than when we grow our own from seed.  Do you notice that as well?  Please let me know.  Well, we had a spectacularly warm and sunny day here in the 'Burgh!  I have been weeding like crazy!  The Herbal Husband is doing his vegetables in containers now and has relinquished some beds in the back gardens.  I have been trying to get things in shape to plant some herbs with different colors and foliage to make the back pop with interest and color.  I found an article in The Herb Companion has a lot of good information on design and I will share that with you in a later post.  So many posts to write, so little time! Hope you had a great day wherever you may be.  I will talk to you again soon!

When To Harvest Your Lavender!

Last week or maybe it was earlier this week my herbal friend, Kathleen Gips was talking about harvesting lavender in her Ohio garden.  Brilliant herbal minds think alike.  I was harvesting some of my lavender as well.  Some of her friends were asking when to start.  So I thought I would give you some photos of my 'Hidcote' lavender that is ready to go or not.

This One is OK, But Could Use A Couple of More Days!

This One is Better Than the First One, A Bit More Open!

See Those Brown Calyxes at the Bottom! Perfect!

Flowers Are Open!  Leave for the Bees!

These photos are all (Lavendula angustifolia 'Hidcote').  These harvesting instructions would work for any lavender that is an angustifolia type.  Most angustifolia types start to bloom in my area in early June.  Although this year, I think they were just a bit earlier and started in late May.  I remember when I first started my herbal journey and I was just learning, I cut my lavender when the buds were fully closed.  The stems were fragrant, but I did not get any of the purple buds which is what you want if you are going to use lavender for teas, cooking, potpourris, etc.  The last photo with the flowers open does not dry well.  The flowers collapse and turn black or brown.  What makes it more difficult to judge is the weather, if it is too rainy, too cool, you will have to wait, and if you wait too long, the flowers will open, but the benefit is to the bees.  So I suppose the morale to this story is be patient, but watch the weather and be ready to make sure you get the most out of your lavender harvest!

We are having a soggy day today.  Have been very busy trying to get beds weeded and I may have to just dig some beds up and start again!  Oh, wait that means more herbal retail experiences for me!  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be!  Talk to you again soon.

Herb Garden Chores-Cutting Chive Blossoms and Other Herbs!

Spent Chive Blossoms Need To Be Cut!

Well, I am going to be blogging sporadically at best.  The weeds have overgrown everything.  The chives which were just starting to bloom when I left; now the majority of them are over.  If you do cut back the spent chive blossoms, you may be rewarded with new blossoms.  Already some of my chives have been trying to produce new ones!  I also cut back both of my salad burnets that had flowered very early because of the unusually warm days here.  So starts the trimming and harvesting in the herb garden.  Maybe a bit early this year but something to look forward to every season.  I also cut some lavender that was ready.  I'll show you that in the next post.  What are you trimming or harvesting in your herb garden?  A very pleasant day here in the 'Burgh.  Hope you are enjoying time in your herb garden.  I will talk to you again soon.  

I Got on a Double Decker and Almost Didn't Come Home!

Big Ben in View from the Top!

Well, I guess you have guessed where I have been.  Some of my blogging friends have guessed.  I had to get away to the Chelsea Flower Show because my dear herbal friend, Jekka had her first show garden.  It had her name all over it and won a Silver Gilt Metal!  I gave her a card that said Kick Ass on the outside and I said on the inside Oh, wait, you already have kicked ass!  She was very pleased with the outcome and I will share my photos of the show in a later post.  I spent an afternoon at Sissinghurst in the rain!  I took a class on digestive issues and herbs at the Chelsea Physic Garden.  Went to the Cambridge Botanic Garden and Oxford's as well.  I also got to spend a tiny bit of time with my English herbal companion, Gloria.  Always a joy to be with her.  But it is just a joy to be able to spend time in my beloved England.  I was celebrating the 50th (yes, 50th) anniversary of my first visit to England.  I remember sitting next to an English man on the plane over who taught me all about the different coins of currency.  I loved his accent.  And I will never forget pushing the bell for the butler at the Grosvenor House Hotel and ordering breakfast.  I was a lucky girl then and I am a lucky woman now.  Thank you to The Herbal Husband for tolerating my absence.

With apologies for not writing a lot lately, I am back and not a moment too soon!  We have not had the rain as Texas may have had, but my goodness, the herb garden is a crazy wild blooming mass of plants!  I almost missed its flamboyance, herbally speaking!  As you can see by the back gardens, I have lots of weeding to do, but the English are making more space into wilderness!  Maybe I can go with that story!  Once things are weeded, I really want to go with plants that will bring as many beneficials as possible.  So I have a bit of work to do and I promise that I will sprinkle my English adventures into the mix.  Speaking of rain, we are still getting showers here.  It is soggy and some herbs are tolerating it and others not so much.  Maybe that's what I will discuss next time.  Talk to you later.

The English Are Doing More Wilderness Areas!