Fun with the herb garden

For the last couple of years I have had a few herbs, including thyme, various mints, oregano and rosemary. I also have some lavender, which looks very similar to rosemary. (Do you have an idea where this is going?) I had one rosemary bush just out the back door, and one in the front yard. The one in the back had gotten very woody and worn-out looking, so last week I pulled it up.

A couple of days ago my husband made us a pot roast. It was ready when I got home from work. Wonderful! The next day, we were in the yard, and he pointed to the lavender, and asked me what it was. I told him. He then said, 'how did you like that pot roast?" The long and short of it: he walked out the back door to cut some rosemary, and saw it gone. He remembered that I said I had some in the front, so he walked out front and saw a plant next to the sidewalk. He cut some, noticing that it smelled good. He then saw another plant that looked more like rosemary, so he cut some of that as well. Both went in the roast. We have laughed over this for days. And the roast really was great!

We have been doing some great plant trading and bartering. We acquired seven azalea bushes. They are old, and had to be dug up. So far they are doing well. Five are pink and two white. We also got two knock out rose bushes, one red and one pink, and some Russian sage. I traded some crocosmia for the rose bushes.

One important lesson learned. Last spring I carefully labeled many plants. I used plastic labels and Sharpie permanent marker. I thought that would last. Wrong! All of them have faded within the year. This certainly makes for surprises this time of year, since I can't remember what/where everything is! So, I am now putting out copper markers, in which I etch the plant name. We will see how this goes.

Beautiful spring so far. The redbud and dogwood will be in full bloom this week; tulips are up and the azalea will soon follow.

Spring at last!

What a long, cold winter we have had. Last Friday I picked my first daffodils, a full month later than last year. My daphne bush is just now in full bloom, along with the star magnolia, crocuses, and forsythia. An odd combination.

But now that gardening season has begun, I will be trying to make regular posts here again, and will be adding photos of new blooms. It is always exciting to see what will come up each year.

A new kitten joined our family this winter. So, here is Grendel, in her first snow.

New plants

I bought several new plants today.

The purple flower is a Salvia leucantha, or Mexican bush sage. It will be nice in the front area where I already have several varieties of salvia. I also bought a Salviagreggi Furmans Red salvia, which has a nice fragrance.

The other two plants I have photographed are both shade lovers, and will go behind the pond. The one with the yellow spots is Farfugium japonieum "Aureamaculata". It has yellow flowers at the end of long stems. The larger, bushy tropical looking plant is a Fatsia japonica Jampanese fatsia. It should make a dramatic look to that back corner of the yard.

I also bought 3 mums, on sale, since they are a bit past their peak. But, they should be nice perennials for the front yard.

Hopefully I can get them all planted in the next few days.

A WOW garden

I spent this past weekend in Delaware and Pennsylvania. Despite a steady, cold rain, we saw several gardens. Most of Saturday was spent at Longwood Gardens. http://www.longwoodgardens.org/ Longwood is more than 1000 acres of gardens, AND has a 4.5 acre conservatory with more than 5,000 plants in it. It was simply unbelievable. I got so many ideas for my little garden space. The mums were spectacular. There is beautiful orchid room that was stunning. The leaves are beginning to turn in southern PA, but there were still many flowers blooming. Unfortunately it was just too cold and wet to be outside for long.

We also got to see the great pumpkin weigh-in. The winner was over 1400 lbs.

We visited Winterthur, but it was just too cold and wet to see much in the gardens. The museum, of course, is fabulous. And, we visited a small garden at an (unfortunately) now nearly abandoned house in Wilmington. The gardens are the Marian Coffin gardens, and are quite nice. The house, Gibralter, was once lovely, but is now boarded up and covered in vines.

All three of these are worth the trip.

Hot October

It is still hot for October. Yesterday and today in the 80s. It is keeping some of the late bloomers pretty. Below are some of what I have now. The blue/purple bush is an aromatic aster, along with a daisy. The red flowers are pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) and the other white flower is a ginger lily.

My last mystery plant

Turns out this mystery plant is Katie's Ruellia. A dwarf of the common Ruellia which I also have. Here is some good information about it. http://www.jaycjayc.com/ruellia-brittoniana-katie-dwarf-purple/

I found a great website, finegardening.com, where you can post a 'what is this?' picture. Some of the folks were very helpful and sent me in the right directions. I will use that resource more.

Argiope aurantia

We seem to have an abundance of spiders around the yard. I try to keep them off the porch, but I know that spiders have an important place in the garden. There are two large spiders, agripoe aurantia, at the lamp post in the front, where my moon flower is.

Here is another mystery plant. It bloomed in August, but I'm just now posting the picture. The woman who sold it to us said it was a Mexican Violet, but I can't find that plant in any book. Pretty little plant, rather bushy and close to the ground, growing in partial shade.