Tag Archives: garden

Rosemary & Rue

Here’s what either made it through Winter or has been replanted in my herb garden this Spring. It’s nice to be able to dog-proof the herbs by surrounding them with a fence and a border of Echinacea varieties, daisies, zinnias, and hollyhocks. No more dogpee, no more dog-owners ripping out plants that they don’t want their dogs to accidentally ingest. Everybody wins.

(updated on 5/15/10 to add chili peppers, chives, foxgloves, garlic, nasturtiums & roses, which I somehow omitted)

  • artemisia southernwood (Artemisia abrotanum
  • basil (sweet, Queen of Siam)
  • bergamot (Monarda didyma) – not to be confused with Citrus aurantium bergamia, a citrus tree from the Mediterranean that produces the bergamot oil that gives Earl Grey tea it’s distinctive flavor
  • chili peppers (Capsicum annuum and Capsicum chinense
  • chives
  • dill (Anethum graveolens)
  • eucalyptus. In case of koala bear attack. Safety first.
  • fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
  • foxgloves
  • feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium)
  • garlic
  • garlic chives (Allium tuberosum)
  • German chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile)
  • hyssop anise (Agastache foeniculum)
  • lavender (Lavendula stoechas)
  • lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
  • lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla)
  • lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus )
  • lovage (Levisticum officinale)
  • mint (spearmint, peppermint, chocolate & pineapple)
  • nasturtium
  • oregano (I’ve misplaced the tags – two varieties of seedlings from George Washington’s greenhouse at Mount Vernon).
  • parsley (Petroselinum crispum) – curly & flatleaf
  • pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium)
  • roses
  • rosemary
  • rue (Ruta graveolens) – Repels witches. Or attracts them. Depends on who you ask.
  • sage (Salvia officinalis) – common, purple & pineapple.
  • savory, summer (Satureja hortensis)
  • savory, winter (Satureja montana)
  • tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus)
  • thyme (lemon, lime, creeping, French, German) – I replaced my lawn with thyme. You should, too. It smells nice when you stand in it (watch out for bees) and it could come in handy if you need to mummify a relative.
  • yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
  • The borage (Borago officinalis is missing and is either currently misidentified or I may have inadvertently weeded it out early in the Spring. I still have some seeds left, just have to remember to replant.
  • cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) & some parsley has grown wild and gone to seed and needs to be replanted. I’ve let the largest ones keep growing because they were the plants Rania sketched for her shadowpods designs.

True Epicure & I would both like some horehound and patchouli cuttings or seedlings, just because we’re compulsive completists. I don’t even know what I’d do with them either than stick them in the garden and label them and be amused by them. That’s what I do with many of the herbs on this list, so they’ll fit right in. If you happen to have any, drop me a line or leave a comment.

the view from here

Although there are a lot of goldfinches in my neighborhood, in the mornings it’s usually just a pair of the little yellow piglets feasting on the sunflowers outside the kitchen window. I was playing with my camera this morning and took a 60 second video of them. It’s so cute to watch them ripping the flowers to bits, petal by petal…

spring!

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I probably gave away a hundred tulip bulbs when I moved our herb garden and dug out the front yard. Despite my best adoption efforts, a few apparently found their way into the compost heap:

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Although my favorites are the dark purple-black Queen of Night tulips, I do love the way the yellow ones appear to become to luminescent when the sun is directly above them:

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