Welcome to A Garden Variety Blog!

Although my neighbors are all barbarians,
And you, you are a thousand miles away,
There are always two cups on my table.
--Tang Dynasty


I hope you, whomever you are,
will sit down "with" me for tea,
or flavored coffee or spiced cider,
and have a garden variety chat.
Now and then.
I am not so consistant about blogging
as I ought to be.
I *am* consistant about
drinking hot beverage
and the coffee/tea is always on the hob.

Come on in!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

herb garden 08

I've been promising 2008 pictures for a while now and finally got them ready to post.

One of the most fulfilling things for me is seeing plants that I chose for the herb garden decide they are finally home and really move in root stem and flower (well, they don't have locks, stocks and barrels! LOL!)

Tied with that, is the surprise of a new plant that I didn't choose, suddenly popping up among the store bought plants. New plants suddenly popping up this year were wild garlic, and Helleborine.

This is what I said about her (Helleborine) when I found her in my driveway last year -





The new gal (Helleborine) will fit right in my garden!
"....classified as a "nervine," indicating its purported healing and calming effect on the nerves. This term, however, is no longer used in medicine today."".... sometimes used today either alone or as a component of formulas intended to treat anxiety or insomnia . "..... also sometimes used topically as a poultice or plaster for relief of muscular pain , 2 but again there is no evidence that it is effective. "She will fit right in my medicinal herb bed (medicinal historical not to be used now. LOL)

Oh the joys of long research using my personal garden related library and the almost endless internet sources to identify a mystery plant, even if I find it is so poisonous I have to wear gloves pull it out and dispose of it. That happened this year when I found Hemlock growing in my side woods.


And I am still pulling out Deadly Nightshade every year.


********************************************************
Most of my readers know I don't keep a neat garden. I pull most of the grass and weeds out of the herbs, but in the "wildflower/weed" section of the garden the only plants I pull out are the two kinds of ragweed.

So, that said - on to the pictures. (If you click on the picture, you'll see a larger picture.)


First of all, for those who are tired of waiting for the picture -
THE BENCH! Big enough to seat two adults if they snuggle.
(And behind and to the right, my little spice bush, that came back!)
I built this myself, using old brick and a flagstone. I even lifted the flag stone, rolled it across the yard and then lifted it up to the top of the bricks. If I hadn't been weight training and doing a LOT of aerobic exercise, I couldn't have done it.


Witch Hazel. This may not survive the chain saw, since it is right in front of Larry's storage building site. There are others on the property but this is the nicest one.

Wintergreen - new this year. It grows in patches all over the property but I wanted it in my herb garden, and haven't been able to transplant the wildings successfully. This is in the shady bed.



Wildflower bed with the bird bath still not set up.




Wildflower bed with poppies and dock.



Weediest part of wild bed. (I love weeds!)




Hollyhock and poppy with potato tower in back.



Wild ginger in shadiest spot.



Wildest part - lots of milkweed for the butterflies.



Sweet flag, made it through winter and grew a bit!


Sweet Woodruff in the Ivy, shadiest bed.



Tansy, with the variegated wormwood behind it in a flower pot jail. It still pops up everywhere.



Vetch, finally spreading in front of gas tank where it's pure sand.




I don't know what this is! It's supposed to be a flowering climber, but this is all it does.




My potato tower. Just the sprouted bits from a bag of potatoes planted in dirt and as they grew I added tires and packed in straw and compost to keep out the sun. The plants are now almost my height, but most of the stem is "buried".



Queen Anne's Lace (I'm thrilled they've finally started taking over the wild bed!) In front is a carnation just for fun, bought this year.



Apothecary rose, and it has sprouts too!


Stump. LOL!



Sweet Annie, an invasive thing but I love the scent. Iwalk on it, but it keeps growing.





Mexican Mint, been there for 6-7 years and comes up every year.



Nasturtium in old brick. Behind are oregano and Egyptian Onion.



My huge oregano plant with tarragon and apothecary rose showing behind and horehound, fennel and catnip in foreground.


Another of Oregano and Tarragon.


Poppies, bought this year, no bloom yet.






Hops. I want it to climb the swing but it chooses it's own way.


Annise Hyssop

Hyssop (Both hyssops bought this year)


Knee high wild violets.



Curly mint confined to an old wheel barrow. It also grows with abandon in the south woods.



Front view of garden.



Goldenrod, taking over the north woods. Edited to add: A few minutes ago Mower Man cut down most of that goldenrod patch. What HE doesn't know is...............it's almost impossible to kill! LOL!



Long view from the North end, showing from the left Bee Balm, Joe Pye Weed with lilies and blue eyes in front. Behind are grape vines and the rest of the garden, and in back at the west end of the garden is the swing.




Dry sunny bank, South side. You see the Lavendar, Sage, Thyme



More of the dry, sunny bank - chives, parsley, lavendar.


Dead or False Nettle.




Feverfew near the deck



Lovage on the back north shadiest side.



Balms (Bee and Lemon), with Joe Pye in back. You can just barely see on the right that flowerpot prison full of wormwood.


Chocolate mint happy so far in a horse trough.



Egyptian Onions, with Costmary in the old brick. I think this may not work out. Might have to move the Costmary.