Texas Tarragon Will Work in Florida!

Texas Tarragon Even Works Inside!

Can't seem to stay away for long!  Since I answered Linda one of my readers from Florida who asked a question about savory, the 2015 Herb of the Year.  I have decided to answer FlowerLady Lorraine's question with a post of its own.

Her question was did I think she could grow Mexican or Texas tarragon in Florida.  I did give her a positive response, but I thought I would give the Florida herb gardeners a bit more information.  From the University of Florida extension here is a publication called Herbs in the Florida Garden.  It gives a good overall view of herbs that fare well in the Florida heat and humidity and says that tarragon struggles.  So here is Texas or Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida), a link from Bonnie Plants that gives some good information on the growing aspects of this licorice flavored herb.  Also it has a flower similar to the flowers of a 'Lemon Gem' marigold.  And I will add that for us Pennsylvania herb gardeners, it definitely is an annual, but it survives through the heat and humidity.

I asked The Herbal Husband when I was going away in November to cut it back and bring the branches in so they could dry inside.  But bless his heart, he dug up the entire plant and brought it in.  I have tried to minimize his plant work inside, but he just falls in love, herbally speaking, for all of the herbs we grow especially the annuals and wants them to get through the winter with us.

It really isn't winter in the 'Burgh at the moment.  We are supposed to be in the 50's all week!  What?  I still like winter and as I have mentioned it is good for the plants to have that break in the season.  I am afraid we may lose a few more plants than normal.  I am reminded that it is National Hot Tea Month.  So with that in mind, I may work on a few herbal tea blends for the next post.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you soon.    

Been Busy in the Herb Garden and Celebrating the 2016 Herb of the Year with a Jelly Recipe!

Rosemary Sherry Jelly Was One of 19 Batches of Herbal Jelly Made!

Last Pouches of Certo Used for Hot Pepper Jelly!

Keep Finding the Ladies!  This Time on Mint!

Mexican Sage--A Late Tall Bloomer in the Garden!

One Last Monarch on the Butterfly Bush!

One Last Gasp for Our Grape Arbor!

My Favorite Flowered!

This certainly has been a different year for me in the herb garden.  I have probably had years like this before.  As I get older my May trips to England affect the herb garden and the stresses have been weather related as well.  All of the photos above are from October.  I had a brain freeze about my jelly choices and fortunately I have a couple of the Western Reserve Unit of the Herb Society of America's cookbooks which saved me for flavors.  Thanks to all of those wonderful herb ladies for their inspiration  The hot pepper jelly recipe is from The Herbal Pantry by Emelie Tolley and Chris Mead.  As you can see in the photo, the peppers are suspended in the jelly which makes for a great presentation.  Here is their recipe with my notations in parentheses.

Hot Pepper Jelly
Makes 6-1/2 8 oz. jars (The half I will use for us.)
Recipe says it makes 8 8 oz. jars.  For me, it did not.

"An appealing combination of sweet and hot, this jelly is extremely good with chicken or lamb, or with cream cheese as an hors d'oeuvre.  Also you can use this as a glaze for ribs during the last 15 minutes of grilling or baking in the oven."

1 cup minced green bell pepper
1/2 cup minced hot red pepper, or to taste
1-1/2 cups cider vinegar
6-1/2 cups sugar
6 ounces (2 pouches) liquid pectin

Combine the peppers, vinegar, and sugar in a non-aluminum saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat and boil gently for 5 to 7 minutes.  Remove from heat.  (Quickly stir in the pectin and return to heat and boil exactly one minute).  Remove from heat and (Stir for a couple of minutes at least.  I stirred for 5 minutes.  Probably too much time because the Certo really started to go gloppy.  I think when you see the pepper pieces suspended you will know it is enough.)  Put carefully (because it is already just about set up) into sterilized jars that have been boiled previously for 10 minutes and use two piece rings and lids to cover.  Place the lids in hot water until ready to use.  You don't have to boil the rings.  Place all jars into a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.  As long as you hear that ping after the jars come out and the lids have sealed down, they are canned.  If the lid has not sealed, place them in the refrigerator and use them promptly.

"Note:  If the only hot peppers available are green, use a red rather than a green bell pepper."

In herb garden news, I did lose some herbs from the heat and dry weather.  We did have some winners from the annuals planted especially the Mexican sage which is blooming its head off at the moment.  Love those tall late blooming herbs!  And the beneficials are still around and you can participate just like me at Lost Ladybug Project, a project of Cornell University to find those lost ladybugs.  We also actually had a monarch last week as well.  Sadly not too many of them these days.  The grape arbor is finally going to be replaced.  Need the help of our neighbor, but hopefully that will happen in the next couple of weeks!  Maybe a Halloween treat!  And then finally our crowning achievement is that the lemon verbena both in the container and in the ground thrived so much so that they both bloomed.  Very excited!

Well, those are some of the high points of the herb garden this season.  Did cut my chives and chop them for my container in the freezer.  Did make a touch more purple basil vinegar.  Do have a small bush of mint marigold or Texas tarragon to harvest before the cold sets in.  Oh and some of the parsley will be cut and frozen for Parsley Dill soup.  And finally will clip back the lemon verbena in the ground and I am going to experiment with covering it with a fiberglass cover make for roses.  Maybe it will help bring it back.  It really like the space we put it in.

The herbal containers will be coming in the next two weeks.  Have also started several projects of cross-stitch, so I will post about the garden when I can.  The months are flying by with such speed and I don't seem to want to write as much as I used to.  A beautiful day in the herb garden and I'm inside posting here.  Hope you are doing well wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.  

I Thought Being Canadian Might Help, Herbally Speaking!

This Sweet Basil is Sadly Getting Downy Mildew!

We bought this sweet basil at Trader Joe's in June and I thought because it was grown in Canada, we might have a chance to enjoy it.  The Herbal Husband and I are always seduced by a beautiful plant especially basil and this certainly was one.  Although I am gun shy when it comes to buying sweet basil plants these days because of disease.  Even one that I thought was a hybrid that was more resistant has gotten it.  I really have been shaken to the core by downy mildew of basil.  Unfortunately it is here to stay for those of us in the northeast and some states where it exists but has not been diagnosed yet.

What I call the scented basils, lemon, lime, cinnamon, Thai, Holy etc.  All of these basils seem to be resistant to the disease.  Such a beautiful plant that will be gone shortly!  It is getting tougher to grow favorite herbs all of the time! 

We mowed and are still weeding parts of the front and back gardens.  Those two weeks that I was in England, I am really paying for it now!  Today was a beautiful day with warm temps and low humidity. The ickies and stickies come back tomorrow.  Hope you have had a great day.  I will work on that giveaway box for you and let you know the details and how you can win it shortly!  Talk to you again soon!

Purple Basil Vinegar and Lemon & Lime Basil Jelly!

Decided to do a double post, basil style!  I think my purple basil vinegar is done AND the lime basil and lemon basil needed to be harvested!  Kathleen Gips always said that growing lemon basil was a waste of time for her because it goes to flower so quickly!  I understand your statement this season particularly, Kathleen.  I didn't have space in the herb garden for basil.  I planted them in my French bowl.  They really went to flower quickly!  And when you don't pay attention!  I may be making pesto instead of jelly!  I'll let you know!  Back to work.  The 90's have gone.  Rain the next two days.  More tomorrow.

Purple Basil Vinegar Done and Lemon and Lime Basil Picked for Jelly!

Doing a Bit of Herb Plunking Again!

Back left is lemon bee balm, 'Angel's perfume' scented geranium, clary sage, next is 'French Fringed' lavender, 'Coconut Punch' dianthus, 'Hummelo' betony and 'Blue Mound' rue

As you may know by now, I am an herbal plunker and an herb collector.  I do admit it.  I love the latest and greatest of herbs and so maybe in the end that's the answer.  I just love most herbs and feel the need to purchase them all!  I have tried for many years to come up with a good plan once they are purchased, herbally speaking.  But I buy so many herbs that we just fit them in where we can.  Sometimes we have great successes and other times not so much.  We will see how these perform together.  I just wanted to be able to see them and enjoy them!  So hopefully before the end of the season I will talk about what I purchased and see how each performed in the garden even planting this late.  I usually have everything I want planted by the end of May.  So this is a bit later than usual.  England is to blame!

The ickies and stickies persist in the 'Burgh!  I have been busy picking raspberries and make jam.  I have 16 jars already with another batch set up today to make tomorrow.  I think we are headed to another 100 jar season at this rate.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  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.

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!

Staying Alive in the Herb Garden!

Salad Burnet with Frost!

Can't Believe I Still Have Fresh Tarragon!

Horehound Straggly But Still Alive!

This Calendula Still Has Buds to Bloom!

Pineapple Mint Still Going Strong and Now in My Lawn!

Will the Birds Eat My Beautyberries This Year?

Was walking around the herb garden and back garden yesterday.  It was cold enough to have frost, but here in the herb garden there are still definite signs of life in the herbs.  Some lose their flavor like the salad burnet.  It becomes herbal eye candy.  Others like chives hold their flavor for a long while.  Always surprised to see what has made it so far although we have not had winter yet in the 'Burgh!  We haven't even had measurable snow yet!  So it isn't surprising that these herbs have clung to life in the garden.  I am going to track if the birds and specifically the cardinals (I have heard) love the beautyberries.  Hopefully they will enjoy them over the winter season.  The purple berries make such a beautiful statement to the brown of the garden.

I hope you are having a wonderful day getting ready for the holiday season with your friends and family.  Let me know what's still around in your herb gardens.  A foggy and frosty day again here.  Going into the 50's.  Not very Christmas like around here.  Getting closer to the drawing for my jam and herbal jelly giveaway.  There is still time to enter at the link on my home page or click the link to the left.  Winners will be drawn from my blog and Facebook.  One entry per person please.  I'll talk to you tomorrow.

HMIG, Herbally Speaking!

Just a Little List of Herbs That Died in the Herb Garden!

I have been just lamenting the fact that a bunch of herbs have died in my herb garden this season.  The acronym in the title stands for "Herbs Missing In Garden".

I had two curry plants die, two lavenders, one called 'Mini Blue' and the other one that I should not kill a 'Munstead', my favorite, lemon verbena.  We think it died from too much water and then no water at all.  Finally, there was an yerba buena that I was going to celebrate in talking about the 2015 Herb of the Year, Savory.  Well, a talk for another time!

Didn't have many nasturtiums.  The basils got too much water early on and didn't survive.  Although I have one lemon basil that is making a comeback.  The 'Spicy Globe' basil in one of the combination containers did very well.  The "sweet" basil that I bought last year as a hydroponically grown plant has finally said enough and quit producing.  It said one year is enough!  Don't think you are getting more than that.  If anyone can get more out of a plant of any kind though, it is The Herbal Husband.  I always say to him just compost it and he secretly puts it in a corner and it starts to shoot new leaves!  We will see this time.

The Basil Finally Said Enough!

I will highlight what was great in the herb garden soon.  I would love to blog from something other than my laptop.  Will keep working on that as well.  It is getting warmer after I thought we were headed into fall.  Need to make the tarragon wine jelly and share the recipe with you.  Got sided tracked today with computer issues.  Hope you have had a great day!  Talk to you later.

Herbal Harvest Time!

Busy out in the herb garden working to harvest herbs.  Summer is fleeting and we are already looking like fall around here.  So the lemon verbenas got their trim and the stevia did as well.  What marjoram grew has been trimmed and placed between two paper towels and then the paper towels smell like the herb once the herb is dried.  I cut the tarragon back the other day and will make tarragon wine jelly with it.  Recipe to follow.

Lemon Verbena Drying for Tea!

Would Like to Have the Herbal Husband Using Stevia!

The weather is very dry but the second crop of raspberries has started already.  Made another batch of jam on Monday.  No grape jelly this year.  Most of the grapes have been eaten by the birds or rotted.  Hope you have started harvesting in your herb gardens in earnest if you are in the northern half of the U.S.  I hear the water flowing.  The Herbal Husband is watering.  Been trying the blog on my phone because my photos are on that device and Blogger is not cooperating!  Will keep trying and will keep harvesting!  Still need to talk about savory!  Hope you are having a great day!  Talk to you later. 

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.

Blogging with Photos from Smartphone!

A Very Soggy Herb Garden!

Prolific Chamomile!

First of the Daylilies Blooming!

This is One of the Containers from the Class I Did in May!

Well, this will be a lot of trial and mostly error!  I got a smartphone last week and have been practicing to take photos.  I just downloaded them now and I got error messages.  So you are seeing some but not some of my better photos!  Ugh!  OK, this is an update.  I think I figured out how to get all of the photos downloaded.  So I will be sharing more in the coming days.  And the rain just continues downward.  We have been getting an inch a day some days.  Yesterday was our first sunny dry day in weeks and we are just going to be rainy and cool for at least two weeks more!

I have been literally running out between rain showers and cutting what I can and drying what I can before it turns moldy.  I decided on jelly flavors today and cut my first round of summer savory to make jelly.  I have two choices and maybe I will make some with one flavor and make more later with another flavor if it keeps growing and does not rot!  Savory not a good herb of the year when it is so wet.  I have an abundance of tarragon.  So I will make tarragon jelly this year as well.  The herbs in containers are doing very well.  BTW, we got a new awning and if I can download a photo of it, I'll share it with my next post.

I have just try to keep ahead of the weeds and harvesting when necessary.  Hope you aren't too wet.  Talk to you later.

Not Sure Where to Start, Herbally Speaking!

I guess I should just call it what it is hooky!  Yes, I have been playing hooky with my blog!  I barely got the last post out.  So I will just try to bring you up to date on what has been happening.  I'm not sure whether to start in early May and catch you up or just start with what's happening in the garden today and work on the early and mid May posts later on.

You see when I went to Williamsburg, VA for the national Herb Society meeting in early May, we had a heatwave (high 80's every day) here in the garden and I came home to a blooming garden much more advanced than early May would have usually been.  And I brought back a lot of herb plants from visiting Surreybrooke in Maryland,  Lavender Fields Herb Farm in Glen Allen, Virginia and DeBaggio's Herb Farm in Chantilly, Virginia for the garden and for my container class at the end of May which I posted in late May.

Surreybrooke Has Lovely Garden Spaces and Unusual Plants!

Lavender Fields Herb Farm Has Organic Herbs!

DeBaggio's Herb Farm Closes July 1, 2015 for the Season

Can I just say about the three businesses above, they are all passionate about plants whether they are herbs, perennials, annuals, etc.  Surreybrooke is more than a garden center.  It is a destination and has wonderful gardens to walk through and a new pavilion for your special events plus tons of wonderful unusual plants.  Lavender Fields has wonderful organic herb plants, you can have lunch there (I think you have to preorder it.) and my friend Bonnie and I enjoyed their lavender lemonade on the last leg of the drive to Williamsburg!  The iconic DeBaggio's Herb Farm has a great selection of herbs, flowers, both annual and perennial and veggies!  They are the only one of the three that will be closed as of July 1 for the season.

So that's the skinny on the garden and herb farms Bonnie and I stopped both on the way to Williamsburg and going home.  It was the perfect combination.  I'll talk about the Herb Society meeting and other events in upcoming posts.  Now for a few photos of the herb garden and other happenings here in Glenshaw.

The Herb Garden This Morning!

Have Been Cutting Chamomile Flowers for Tea Bags.

Been Having Amazing Salads with Our Greens and Herbs

One of My Favorite Roses is Blooming, Rosa Mundi!

So you can see some of what has been going on in the herb garden.  Hope to get back into some kind of routine of posting.  Weather is warm and rain is coming.  Maybe another post tomorrow when it rains.  I'll post when I can.  Hope you are having a great day!  Talk to you later.

A Beautiful Spring Here in the 'Burgh! Now on to Summer!

Really Once They Got Started the Daffodils Were Beautiful!

Part of the 100 I Got From White Flower Farm Years Ago!

I Love That Tulips Open and Close with the Sun!

Basil Blooming in the Kitchen!

Play Pen For the Hostas!

Koreanspice Viburnum!

A Cascade of Daffodils!

Finally Got Some Seeds Planted!

Apple Tree in Bloom!

Really Big Dandelions This Spring!

Seems like April flew by and May seems as though we are two weeks in already!  The temperatures are making me dizzy!  The hopes I had for a lovely spring were going along very nicely and now I'm not so sure.  We were 80 yesterday and more 80's to come this week!  Yikes!  Here comes summer!

The most significant element and I think I mentioned this before from the winter season was the number of deer in the yard has jumped exponentially!  We have some very lovely hostas that they thought were appetizers.  So The Herbal Husband made a make shift pen for the hostas to keep the deer out.  I think we are going to get a roll of rabbit fencing and raise the height so that the deer don't have a buffet every time they are browsing in the yard.  Have to keep reinventing because they keep learning how to eat despite what you do.

Exciting to get a basil through the winter on our kitchen windowsill.  It will go outside shortly.  I think it is not sweet basil and therefore, not as susceptible to downy mildew.  You have to think of everything these days!  I also have a mystery herb coming back in the herb garden near where the tangerine sage was last season.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I'll let you know the verdict in a future post.  There is still no scent coming from the leaves!  Stay tuned!  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.