It's Travel Thursday--Edible Flowers in Giverny!

One of my favorite edible flowers is the nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus). These are outside a little restaurant in the quaint village of Giverny where Claude Monet lived and painted. I always thought Giverny was the name of his home. We took the train from Paris and it was a really pleasant ride. Monet's garden reminds me of ours in a very small way. Lots of herbs mixed with annuals and perennials. This is a famous view of more nasturtiums at Claude Monet's home. Wish ours were even starting to blossom. They aren't! It is finally hot and humid, but only for one day! Well, hope you are having great weather wherever you may be!

Is It Me or Are There More Bad Bugs This Year?

These red aphids are on the big Rudbeckia herbstsonne in the front garden. If you click on the photo, you will see them up close and personal! The Herbal Husband is so frustrated with them that he just squishes them in his bare hands. Maybe your kids would enjoy that job in the garden. It leaves your hands temporarily red! I promise it's not permanent or I'll be in a lot of trouble with moms and grandmoms out there. It doesn't seem to be affecting the blooms. They are going to bloom shortly! I'll give you a blooming photo when it happens! I love them because they make a statement and bloom late into the fall. Always a good thing!

Please Dry These on the Dryer!

I can't make this stuff up! Those were the words of The Herbal Husband when we were cleaning the herbal trees in containers the other day. These are kaffir lime leaves. We use them in our wok cooking. Really fragrant and flavorful! Just don't eat them. Too tough and like a bay leaf has a lot of sharp edges. Off to the garden! Talk to you all later.

Picking Raspberries, But Not These!

If you click on this photo, you hopefully will see why I couldn't pick these beautiful raspberries. We have a lot of spiders this year. That's the good news. The sort of bad news is is that you can't always pick berries when they are ripe! We had a beautiful day here getting ready for the master gardeners on Friday.

New Mexico in the House and Garden!

Our dear friends, Rich and Rosemary, came for a visit last weekend. They were here for the funeral of a dear family member. So to give them a break, we invited them to come to the garden and then we went out to the Original Pancake House for breakfast! It was so great to be with them! Hope you are enjoying a visit from a good friend!

Like A Deer in the Headlights!

No, I haven't seen deer this season. This was one of Santa's reindeer come for a visit last year. Although we have had some deer damage, but I'm referring to this time of year. I really sometimes admire my herb garden too much and forget to harvest the herbs! It was supposed to rain today and so I thought I needed to get to my chamomile flowers after seeing The Essential Herbal blog. Tina has some really good tips and helpful hints. So I need to keep moving forward to the next project. I need to dry some herbs for tea like I did last season. Hope you are enjoying your weekend wherever you may be.

Guest Blogging for The Herb Companion Magazine!

I'm always searching for herbs in our travels. I found some unusual ones during our 20th anniversary trip in 2007 to the Loire Valley, France. Here is the link. Hope you enjoy it! Please let me know if you do.

It's Travel Thursday--Plants I Couldn't Take Home!

I had to give you another glimpse of Spain. We visited this beautiful nursery when we were on the way to lunch one day. I, of course found the herb table right away. It was a wonderful combination of sights and smells. Dianthus were in full bloom. The Spanish lavender grows wild here. It was very tempting in these pots! Of course, the scented geranium leaves are very fragrant! It was sad that I couldn't take any of these beautiful plants home to the 'Burgh!

From One Pest to Another!

It's another PEST! We just got rid of the four lined plant bug and it's on to the Japanese beetle! As The Herbal Husband said, "There are MILLIONS of them!" I said, I don't think that is quite true! I'm on constant watch now. Of course, they like pretty much everything we have roses even if they aren't blooming, raspberries, grapes and even if they aren't doing damage, they may just land and rest on other plants! We were lucky for a couple of years to not have too many. Well, they are back!

Here is my method of capture! Very low tech! I affectionately named the jar, Beetle Juice! I just put water and some dishwashing soap in the jar. I get out early in the morning or later in the evening. During the day I can get them, but they are more likely to be alert to my patrols and fly or drop to the ground! I am even resorting to catching them in my bare hands! Don't try this at home unless you are a trained professional beetle wrangler! Hope for warmer weather. We just got the last tomatoes planted.