My Herb Garden is enjoyed by my family daily. It sits right next to my back door in a planting bed next to my house. I have only to grab my garden shears and slip-ons to season just about all the dinners I cook. Just last night I made a big pot of chicken and dumpling soup, a family favorite that my herb garden also enjoys as the herbs get a solid pruning to make my soup extra flavorful. I dry the mints and chamomile throughout the summer in the sun for tea. I have to add a note that though the mints are in the herb garden, they are in attractive pots instead of in the ground as I don’t want them taking over not just my herb garden, but my yard. It would be tooo much of a good thing. Then, most often I use the Geranium leaves to add zing to a glass of champagne which we enjoy often. The geraniums also add color and texture to the garden. My herb garden consists of the following:
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Chives
- Sage
- Tarragon
- Rosemary
- Lemon Scented Geranium
- Chocolate Mint Geranium
- Spearmint
- Chocolate Mint
- Pineapple Mint
- Basil
- Bay Laurel
- Marjoram
- Thyme
- Variegated Lemon Thyme
- Lavender
- Chamomile
I look forward to adding the following herbs which I notice the absence of:
- Lemon Verbena
- Lemon Grass
- Savory
I spent 4 hours in my garden Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect- sunny and in the 70’s. I pick-axed six holes on my slope for six new plantings- a dogwood, lilac, dove tree, forsythia and two grasses along with one trench for some iris tubers that I relocated. I also relocated a Corydalis curviflora which is a shade plant that was getting too much water in its previous location and now has a better home. I also cleaned and maintained my fountain and all is looking quite attractive.
Finally, I also learned the name of the lily that I was having trouble identifying previously. It’s a Kaffir Lily, Hesperantha coccinea. It has beautiful pink blooms and seems really happy in my yard as I have a large grouping of it.
And, as for my crow, when he knocked over my fountain head and ran the water out of my fountain, he must have been embarrassed to show his face as I haven’t since him since. But now with the fountain up and running perhaps he’ll be back.
As of 3 days ago, we have a new resident at our address. A crow. If he were a person, let’s just say that his tooth brush would be in the bathroom and his dirty laundry would be on the floor. I am sure he has already forwarded his mail. We’ve had many groups of crows hang out in our yard now and then, but they typically move on. Not this fellow. He has not left for 3 days. He doesn’t fly anywhere and mostly just walks around our lawn eating grubs or worms, sits on our fountain edge or elsewhere on our slope, even in the rain. I’m not sure where he sleeps, but am guessing in a bush or tree in or near our yard. He doesn’t appear to have a family or friends that I can tell. I just hope he doesn’t have West Nile and is healthy. I have to say, I don’t mind him and would maybe even miss him if he left. One crow is not too bad. It’s just when a whole family move in that I chase them away. So, for the time being, he can stay.
Here’s a vase full of roses from my garden that we are currently enjoying on our dining room table.
Not much work activity in the garden recently, just enjoying it. Today my youngest daughter and I enjoyed some perfectly ripened blueberries from our two blueberry bushes which was a treat for us both. I think we both enjoyed not only the blueberries, but a quiet moment with just the two of us.
I met with my landscaper yesterday and got a quote for having my slope sprinkler heads raised up 2 feet so that they will water a bit farther and over all the tall plantings I have on the slope. This will be even more important as the next growing season comes along since I have big plans for planting the slope more fully. Currently only a small circle around each sprinkler head was getting watered. Quote is for the conversion of 7 sprinkler heads for somewhere between $150-$200. I was going to do it myself as it is not rocket science. I even dug out one sprinkler to get started, but trying to round up the components was proving to be way more difficult than I figured. Not something I could cobble together at my local Home Depot. So, figuring on all the time it was starting to take me to find the components and not really knowing what I was doing, I figured the under $200 bill should be well worth it, especially since this is something that has been in a half-completed status in my yard for over 2 months. Clearly, it wasn’t happening on my own.
New blooms:
