Pinwheels to the Rescue!

I love gray plants. The sparrows also love my gray plants! It's not what you think though. You're thinking like I was that it was for their nests. Wrong! They just clip the leaves and leave them on the ground. These are mini plants so they can't take much clipping! We brought out a secret weapon, our delightful pinwheels! They seem to work as far as when the wind blows, they spin and keep the birds from clipping. It is in the morning that we will see how they really worked. We may have to get bird netting until they get a little bigger! They really are trying my patience! Just like kids! Still planting plants! Hope to be done tomorrow! Another gorgeous day here! Hope it was good for you also!

Herbal Patchwork!

We are still working on planting the herbs I bought. I actually went and bought some more herbs and flowers this morning! This is the new part of my herb garden. I think it is going to look good. From the bathroom window, it looks like a herbal patchwork quilt! It has compact sage, Nazareth sage, curry plant and Provencal thyme and of course mini boxwoods. An herbal experiment! The linear-leaf thyme is in full bloom. Will take another photo later in the season if it looks good! I'll take a photo either way.

We also worked on getting some tender herbs in containers like an African Blue basil, grey French lavender and in the right hand corner a Peruvian flower called heliotrope! Wonder why we got that? Oh, the Herbal Husband! We had a beautiful day here in the garden! Hope it was great where you are!

Road Trip--Mulberry Creek Herb Farm!

Three of my master gardening friends and I made the trek to Mulberry Creek Herb Farm yesterday. The sales area at Mulberry Creek Herb Farm was full of beautiful herbs and miniatures. They are getting ready for their Annual Herb Fair, June 27th and 28th. If you are thinking about visiting the farm, it would be a good time to go then. This year's theme is Ireland & Going Greener, hence, the green roof on the shed.The owner, Mark Langan, was on his way to make a delivery to one of my favorite herb shops, The Village Herb Shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Mark loves unusual herbs and miniatures. He definitely is a plant collector, but his mission is to help his customers get the most unusual plants in the country. They make a lot of wonderful troughs and containers. Here is just a sampling! Had a great day with my friends! What's not to love about buying herbs, miniatures and having lunch!

Pining for Pineapple Sage - Recipes Abound

Pining for Pineapple Sage
by Michele Brown and Pat Stewart of Possum Creek Herb Farm
Originally ran in the May/June 07 issue of The Essential Herbal Magazine
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“Why should a man die whilst sage grows in his garden?”
13th century quote

Salvia elegans in bloom Salvia is from the Latin “salvere” meaning to save, to cure or be in good health. The French agreed, calling it “tout bonne” or all is well.

History

The majority of historical information refers to sages in general. However, I see no reason that the notoriety shouldn’t run in the “family”. Romans held sage as a sacred ceremonial herb. It was thought to be beneficial for longevity, wisdom and memory. With a long history as a healing herb, it was said to cure snake bites, eye problems, infection, epilepsy, intoxication, memory loss, worms and intestinal problems? And beyond that, it was considered an aphrodisiac!
Did you know? One superstition was that the plant would thrive or wither according to its owner’s fortune.

Identification

Originating from Mexico, pineapple sage is a tender perennial, growing 12-30 inches tall and 2 feet wide.
Leaf: bright green, in pairs, more pointed than other sages; somewhat soft, fleshy and fuzzy, with pronounced veining underneath. Tinge with red as they mature. Bruising the leaves yields a sweet pineapple fragrance.
Flower: tiny, deep-throated, tubular, two-lipped, scarlet/ruby blossoms on slender green stalks in late summer; tangy, citrus-mint flavor. Loved by hummingbirds and bees.
Seed: tiny, dark brown, ovoid.
Stem: Square, turning woody after the 2nd year.

Cultivation

The plant can be propagated by lifting and separating clumps or taking semi-hardwood cuttings in the spring. The cutting should be striped of half its leaves and planted half the length of the cutting into the soil. Replace woody plants every 4-5 years.
Pests include slugs, spider mites, spittle bugs, root rot and wilt. For companion planting, it is said to improve the growth of carrots, marjoram, strawberries and tomatoes.
Because it is a tender perennial, it requires mild winters, wind and sun protection, weekly watering and temperatures above 30oF.
I have been successful wintering over my pineapple sage by heavy mulching at the end of the season (before the first frost).

Harvesting

Avoid harvesting the first year. Leaves and flowers are harvested fresh. Leaves should be harvested prior to blooming. Unlike other herbs, the flavor intensifies as it dries. Because the leaves are somewhat fleshy, it is prone to mold as it dries. Be sure to dry the herb in a warm, dry place with good air circulation.

Put it to Good Use!
Culinary
Nothing smells any better than the sweet, soft pineapple fragrance that this herb imparts. What poor pineapple sage lacks in impressive history, it makes up in culinary delight.
The leaves can be used to flavor teas, chopped for use in chicken and pork dishes, cream cheese, jams, jellies and fruit salad. Leaves should be added at the end of cooking time. They can stand in for regular sage in almost any recipe. The flowers, with their citrus-mint flavor, can be tossed into salads and teas.
Pineapple Sage Tea
(Spring or bottled water is used so as not to overpower the delicate pineapple flavor with any water-related aftertaste)
1 quart spring water
½ cup packed fresh pineapple sage leaves
3 T honey
1 lemon or lime
Bring water just to a boil and pour over the sage leaves. Stir in honey and lemon or lime juice to taste. Steep tea for approximately 20 minutes. Bring to a boil and then strain into mugs.

Pineapple Sage Pound Cake
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
¼ cup honey (light wildflower or sage preferred)
5 eggs
2 T chopped pineapple sage leaves (small, new leaves have the most flavor)
3 T chopped pineapple sage flowers (optional)
1 t grated lemon peel
4 T well-squeezed, chopped pineapple
1 t baking powder
2 cups flour
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in honey. Add eggs one at a time, making sure to beat one minute after each addition. Beat in sage leaves, flowers and lemon peel. Stir dry ingredients together and add to butter mixture. Fold these together gently until just blended. Pour into 4 mini loaf pans (6”x3”x2”). Bake at 350oF for 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Banana Pineapple Sage Smoothie
¾ cup fruit flavored or vanilla non-fat yogurt
1 t honey
1 small banana
1/3 cup skim milk
1 T chopped pineapple sage
½ t ground cinnamon
Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.


Aromatic/Household
The leaves of pineapple sage may be used in potpourri or sachets. The blossoms are loved by hummingbirds, especially the ruby-throated variety and any other late season stragglers.

Pineapple Sage Face Mask
(for all skin types)
½ cup boiling water
1 T fresh pineapple sage leaves
3 T oatmeal
2 T honey
1 egg white
Pour boiling water over leaves and allow to cool completely. Strain and add oatmeal, honey and egg white. Mix until smooth and creamy. Spread mixture on clean skin and let sit for 15-20 minutes. Rinse well with warm water and pat dry.

Conclusion
Even if it does have to play second fiddle to its other family members, it is in a class by itself in the culinary arena. Just try a sprig in a jar of sun tea. One sip and you’ll be hooked and pining for pineapple sage!

It's Travel Thursday---Ole! Ole! It's Malaga, Spain!

I want to backtrack and talk about our wonderful trip to Spain. Again we went to the Costa del Sol and Malaga, Spain. Here are the flower vendors that are very popular in Spain and other places in Europe.


We even found a vendor who was selling HERBS!
You can walk everywhere. There are many pedestrian walkways and again are beautifully immaculate!






























Even the churros and chocolate are delicious on a warm day!













The beach, sea and sunset at 50 mph! Beautiful Spain! Hope you enjoyed a taste of a fantastic area!

Never a Dull Moment in the Garden!

Lots of blooming going on out front in our garden! Above is a peony which we transplanted last year from under a shrub. So we replanted it at the correct depth because it bloomed! Sorry I don't remember the name of the peony. To the right is a red poppy. Looks like red paper. It is beautiful, but very fragile and if we get a lot of rain, it will be finished blooming quickly. The big picture is the jungle that is the front yard. We have to clear out the weeds, but we leave a few for the insects. We have new baby sparrows living in the ivy on the front of the house. It gets quite noisy at times! Never a dull moment!

A Rainy Day in the Herb Garden!

Really pouring in the herb garden today! Thank goodness. We have been down about two inches so this is a very welcomed day in the garden. I got some of my 1,000 plants (The Herbal Husband's estimate) planted yesterday. As you may be able to see the grape got leaf frost, but not fruit. So we may have some grapes this year, just not as many as in past years. The chives have exploded and I am now lobbying for some of them to move on! Always trying for a new herbal opportunity! Have to make room somewhere for the rest of the 1,000 herbs (A huge exaggeration!) to be planted!

Remembering on Memorial Day!

Here is the American cemetery at Normandy, France. I thought it would be an appropriate photo to use for today. My adopted dad was in World War II and it changed his life forever! The Herbal Husband and I just talked to our friend who was a pilot in World War II. He doesn't think of himself as a hero, but even his church today honored the veterans who were in attendance today. I think everyone is affected by war and are proud of the men and women who served and serve our country now. Think of them and have them in your thoughts and prayers!

First Aid Travel Kit

The following is from the May/June '08 issue of The Essential Herbal. It was written by Betsy May, one of our regular contributors.

Getting Ready for Summer: Herbal First Aid and Travel Kits

With summer just around the corner, this is the perfect time to take stock of your herbal first aid kit or put one together if you don’t already have one. By putting it together now, you’ll be prepared for those summertime problems such as bug bites, stings, sunburns, cuts and scrapes, and other illnesses that arise during our more active summer lifestyle. As trips are scheduled and vacations are planned, it’s also helpful to have a travel herb kit on hand. It’s fun and empowering to be able to treat your family and friends with herbal remedies and even more exciting to see the look of amazement on their faces when the remedies actually work! (Of course, always exercise discretion when using these suggestions. They are meant for minor injuries only and are not meant to replace professional medical care.)

Items for an Herbal First Aid Kit:
Kloss’s Liniment: (see recipe at end of article) Kloss’s Liniment is a must have for the first aid kit. It kills bacteria, prevents and heals infections, can be used for all types of external problems such as cuts, ringworm, bruises, sprains, burns,sunburn, poison ivy, chicken pox, boils, and more.
Bach’s Rescue Remedy: Bach’s is wonderfully soothing and comforting for any type of trauma or stressful event.
Peppermint essential oil: Inhale peppermint essential oil to ease nausea and car sickness or when rejuvenation is needed.
Lavender essential oil: Lavender essential oil can be inhaled for anxiety and insomnia.
Rosemary Essential oil: A great trick I learned from Jeanne Rose to treat headaches is to apply a few drops of Rosemary essential oil to the temples and massage while sipping ½ glass of water with one drop of Rosemary essential oil in it. It works every time! Rosemary essential oil is also wonderful for sore, aching muscles.
Tea Tree Essential oil: This antiseptic oil can be used to treat cuts and scratches, acne, and fungus.
Yarrow leaves: Yarrow leaves can help stop minor bleeding. Apply to a cut just like a band aid.
Echinacea Tincture: Echinacea is very helpful for warding off and/or shortening the length of colds.
All-Purpose Healing Salve: (see recipe) This great all-purpose salve can be used for itchy scratches, bites and cuts, sores, cold sores, and even hemorrhoids. It speaks volumes for the quiet power of herbs.
Cold Care Capsules: (see recipe) This idea came from Rosemary Gladstar. These capsules are helpful to take when you feel a cold coming on.
Garlic infused olive oil: Garlic oil works wonders for earaches.
Herbal teas: I would suggest having a number of different blends for various illnesses such as respiratory illness, menstrual discomfort, digestive problems, and anxiety/insomnia. You could formulate your own blends or just buy a few boxes. Traditional Medicinal makes a great line of teas for all of these illnesses.

Travel Kit:
During Rosemary Gladstar’s apprentice program we talked a lot about the value of herbal remedies, both at home and while on the road. Penny, one of Rosemary’s assistants for the class, is known among her friends as being a “world traveler” and she shared a lot of great herbal travel tips with us. Unfortunately, since September 11, traveling with herbs and tinctures can raise suspicion, therefore it is best to have everything in one small bag, clearly labeled if made by hand or in the original packaging if brand name. Another thing to keep in mind if you are flying on an airplane is that you can now carry only 3 ounces of liquid in a container due to homeland security rules. One other tip from Penny: if traveling internationally, especially to third world countries, is to take a Steri Kit. A Steri kit is basically your own IV & syringe kit if you need to go to the hospital. In some countries these supplies are not always sterile so having your own is a good precaution to protect against blood born diseases. Again, it is a good idea to have Steri kit that is officially labeled so you aren’t questioned about why you are traveling with syringes! Steri kits are available from many companies on the internet.
Digestive issues can often be a problem when traveling, either due to overindulging on rich foods, too much take out, or if in a foreign country, from bacteria we are not used to here. There are several items to take with you to be prepared for stomach ailments.
Capsulated ginger powder: Ginger capsules are easier to take than trying to make ginger tea and it works the same for nausea.
Bitters: Bitters aid the digestive process and can help if constipation becomes a problem. Penny also shared that she found out her bitters double as an insect repellant! I plan to try that out this summer.
Blackberry Tincture: Blackberry tincture is great for diarrhea.
Smooth Move tea from Traditional Medicinals: I’ve found it is much easier to pack a few tea bags than to take loose herbs and then try to find a way to brew and strain them. This tea works wonders for constipation.
Other items to include are: Alacer’s Emer’Gen-C packets: These little individual serving size packets are powdered vitamins, especially high in Vitamin C. Just add water and you have a fruit flavored drink. They are great for extra energy, when you are feeling run down, or to help fight off colds. I discovered them several years ago in a health food store and was delighted to find that Rosemary Gladstar also recommends them.
Chamomile tea bags: Chamomile tea is an excellent remedy for stressful situations and to help with insomnia that can come from being in a strange place or a different bed.
I would also recommend the following items that were mentioned for the first aid kit:
Kloss’s liniment, Bach’s Rescue Remedy, All-Purpose Healing Salve, Echinacea tincture, and Lavender, Rosemary, Peppermint, and Tea Tree essential oils.

Recipes

Kloss’s Liniment
2 ounces gum myrrh
1 ounce goldenseal
½ ounce cayenne pepper

Mix herbs and cover with one quart of rubbing alcohol. Let it stand for a week or 10 days, shaking every day. Do not take internally.

Cold Care Capsules
Mix equal parts of goldenseal, echinacea, myrrh powder, and slippery elm bark. Fill “00” size capsules with the herbs. Take two capsules every two hours.

All-Purpose Healing Salve
¼ ounce St. John’s Wort
¼ ounce Comfrey Leaf
¼ ounce Calendula flowers
6 ounces olive oil
2 Tbs beeswax
Peppermint essential oil

Combine the herbs and olive oil & simmer 25 minutes; strain herbs. Add beeswax, stir until melted. Add about 20 drops of Peppermint essential oil. Pour into containers and let cool.


Betsy May is a Certified Holistic Health Practitioner and Yoga Instructor with a love of all things herbal. She can be reached at betsy.may @hotmail.com

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No It's a. . .

praying mantis made of bamboo leaves! The Herbal Husband found a street vendor in New York City that was selling these items made like origami! He also bought me a dragon fly. Equally cool!
It's the little things in life that keep it wonderful for me. Every day for me is different, new and exciting! I have a great life and I'm trying to enjoy every day to the fullest. You should too!

Memorial Day

This weekend officially starts summer. I've been reading different laments about how the meaning of Memorial Day has become forgotten, and that it no longer is a day to honor our fallen military heroes. Considering that I am in my 50's, and can remember as a tot going to the cemetary with my grandparents to put peonies on the graves of our ancestors (non-military), I suspect that this date has undergone some transformation of meaning. It seems to me that the date has become more visibly in honor of military sacrifice as time goes by.
My grandparents spoke of this weekend as always being the one that started summer. Deceased relatives were always honored with flowers and decorations, but as it turns out this day started after the Civil War. (More history) It had little to no significance to *my*relatives in a military/national sense - at least in my memory.
The stories I heard as a child reflected how it was unthinkable and disrespectful beyond imagination to neglect the visitation of graves. Families packed a picnic lunch, gathered flowers for decoration (at one point, the day was called Decoration Day), and made the rounds of cemetaries before ending in a park type setting for a picnic and perhaps some games. As my grandparents passed, my mother took on the job of decorating the graves of "her people" on special days. It was always important to have it finished before other relatives got there to decorate other nearby graves, and saw that it hadn't been done yet.

I always tried to imagine my grandmother's family (of which she was the youngest of 17) packing everyone up and traipsing around their part of the world. There were probably parasols and cellulose collars. Certainly the women all wore gloves and hats, and there would have been hats and vests, and/or suspenders on all the men. What a sight that must have been. It is right up there with the image I carry from her stories about how her father would rent a "barge" for them to take out on the Susquehanna river to fish for shad and eels in the summer.
I grew up during the Viet Nam Conflict. Always was and probably always will be a peacenik. That does not mean that I do not honor and thank the men and women who have sacrificed for me and the country I love. That means that I believe we need to find ways to live together without sending our young people to fight and die. To me, patriotism is not synonymous with war, yet I see that being the case so often.

Imagine
John Lennon

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

(painting is Lady Picking Peonies, by William Verplanck Birney)

A Healthy Patch of Tansy!

I have been lobbying The Herbal Husband to "move" this tansy to another location in the garden. The compost pile! It is aggressive and I would love to be able to plant other herbs there for the company we are going to get later this summer. Just when I thought there was movement toward moving some of it, I looked this morning and found LADYBUGS on the tansy!
Well, can't move the tansy NOW! Look how they love it! If there are ladybugs on it, it may not be as healthy as I think it is! Maybe this is another plant they winter over on! Timing is everything and maybe there is a reason not to move the tansy now. I'll label this part of my herb garden, The Herbal Husband's and Ladybug Central's Tansy!

My Latest Guest Blog at The Herb Companion Magazine!

Here is a link to my latest guest blog for The Herb Companion magazine about my visit to The Cloisters in New York City. Hope you enjoy it!

Thyme in the Herb Garden!

Lots of blooming going on the herb garden including this linear leaf thyme. This was buried by a huge santolina so it is slightly skewed to one side. So I have to find other herbs to fill the spaces in this container. As you might be able to see, this container is falling apart! The Herbal Husband says he will fix it! It is always something and especially with company coming, we need to have a good herbal foundation! Hope you enjoy Memorial Day and the weekend wherever you may be! I also want to say congratulations to Jekka McVicar on winning her 14th Gold Metal at the Chelsea Flower Show this week! Hope to get to her herb farm in Bristol some day soon!

An Herbal Rite of Spring--Lily of the Valley Herb Farm!

This is a happy place that my neighbor (the Herbal Companion) and I come to each spring to savor the smell of herb plants and other flowers in the air. This is Lily of the Valley Herb Farm outside Alliance, Ohio. It is a two hour drive each way for us, but it is pleasurable knowing we will have such beautiful herbs to smell on the way home.This is a small herbal area where they have potted herbs inside. I forgot to take a picture of the display gardens. Oops, too busy buying herbs!

We stopped at my friend's to drop off some scented geraniums and her rock garden was in bloom and beautiful.

Here are the plants I bought at Lily of the Valley. The Herbal Husband may have an herbal stroke when he sees how many I bought! Have a lot of herbal holes to fill before company comes! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Got A Whole Lot of Catching Up to Do!

Had a friend visiting from Peru and he wanted to go to New York City. Not a problem! The Herbal Husband and I had not been in 13 years! So off we went last Tuesday. Above is a beautiful arrangement at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I got in free when I spent the day at The Cloisters. I will talk more about that in another post.
We stayed on the Upper East Side of NYC. Wonderful neighborhood and great restaurants. Wish the accommodations had been better, but for three of us it was cheap! Here is Eli's Foods and they have beautiful figs growing in containers as ours are here. They were also selling beautiful herbs and could be the Tiffany of grocery stores in NYC! Expensive! We also had tea in the garden at Alice's Tea Cup.














I had "The Nibble". Believe me it was a "BIG NIBBLE!" The top plate was a delicious mixed berry scone. The middle tray was an egg salad sandwich and the bottom plate was assorted cookies. I was in heaven! My tea was the Rose Tea Melange which included roses, various white teas and seasonal botanicals. My pinky was definitely extended!

The garden did not stop growing while we were gone, but it is beautiful this time of year. Renewal is wonderful. Also the radishes are enormous as you can see!

where did that week go?

This time of year is always incredibly hectic. There are the festivals, market starts up, gardening groups have programs and need speakers, and then there are the plants and gardens. This year I have a child preparing for graduation as well, so there's a ton of stuff happening here. I open my eyes in the morning, swing out of bed, and don't stop until my head hits the pillow 16 or 18 hours later. Only a few more weeks of this pace, thank goodness.
Last week was the Landis Valley Herb Faire. Susanna Reppert and I hatched a scheme over the winter to have speakers there. Susanna did the work and scheduled talks every 1/2 hour in 2 different locations for almost all of the hours of the 2 day festival! She did an amazing job of it and up until about mid-afternoon on the second day, the talks were a huge success. The faire itself winds down a few hours early on Saturday, so it wasn't a surprise. Even so, my last talk (wild food plants) at 3 on Sat. still had 5 or 6 rapt listeners. So Kudos to Susanna for the hard work!
I managed to get a couple of pictures of The Essential Herbal magazine readers. Barb King came right up and introduced herself (I LOVE subscribers who let me know who they are :-), and then Susan Hess and Jen Stradling appeared together. It is really so much fun to see and meet TEH folks. I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture many of the others who stopped in to visit. This is the view from our side of the booth.
The gardens are coming along too. Our "safe to plant" date is May 15. Last night the news guy said there was a chance of frost, but it looks like that didn't happen here. I got some veggies planted the other day. The perennial plants are starting to really pay off. The blueberries (below) are responding to the fence I built around them and the lack of vermin nibbling off their tender tips. Look at the blossoms! The elderberry is enormous and there are three delicious mints all making their way across the yard - lol. Perennial culinary herbs like thyme, chives (top picture), tarragon, mountain mint, sage, and oregano are enormous, apparently happy to have been well mulched last year.Out front, the bleeding hearts are giving way to some of the more summery flowers. This one below *I think* is called batchelor's buttons. My mom adored it and called it "bluet", but bluets that I know are small dainty four petaled posies that scatter across the lawn like stars.Our famers market has started and we are heading into the 4th week now. We have some regulars sniffing the Yuzu salt spa bars below. So far it has been a blast. We are doing a short (2 page) newsletter every couple of weeks for Main Street Mount Joy, and that means interviewing vendors and customers along with photographing them. It's a lot of fun. Toss in a recipe or two that highlights the ripe produce, and there it is!
J and J Plants from Conestoga is a vendor at our market. They bring some awesome, unusual stuff. This broom came from them last year. I notice he has scarlet this year. The blooms are about triple the size of the typical pale yellow broom. It is gorgeous. See ya soon! We're working on the Jul/Aug issue of the magazine right now. Hang on - it's going to be another great issue with a big surprise right up front.

Moon Over the Herb Garden!

We are back after a wonderful trip to New York City! This moon picture was the morning we left for the Big Apple! It was early! We took the train! It was a long day up and back! Not going to do that again. Sorry Amtrak! Just wanted to let you know we are dragging a little and still more adventures with our friend until he leaves on Wednesday. So I will tell you about our adventures in more detail then!

Herbal Timeout!

Well, as you can see I have put the sign up again! I might actually do a little of what the sign says! So talk amongst yourselves and the Herbal Husband and I will be back shortly with more herbal tales!

Road Trip--Niagara Falls, NY!

We started our visit with Old Fort Niagara! Its history spans more than 300 years. This is the French Castle. It was originally the sole structure of Fort Niagara and made to look like a large trading house to calm the Iroquois. The Castle has been restored to its 1727 appearance. It is harsh reality. This is the Commander's quarters. Much nicer than the enlisted men.The Fort is
located at the confluence of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario.

What is most amazing is that they had a very small herb garden. The wind was fierce and these herbs were doing surprisingly well. These chives in the pot were going to bloom! There was hyssop and thyme near the chives. The herbs in the raised bed on this end are tarragon, lovage, lavender and Roman chamomile. It is a testament to the hardiness of some herbs in adverse conditions! There was also rhubarb, garlic, kale and onions further down the bed. So if you have a wind problem where you garden, consider growing some of these herbal hardy souls!














We stayed at a very nice place called The Red Coach Inn. It reminded the Herbal Husband and I of England! We had a beautiful little apartment. Again, very English in decor. It was very charming! The gardens out front were getting blown to bits by the wind and they were very hardy plants, including lavender, roses, hostas, and ajuga to name a few. P.S. You should stay two nights if you can. I drove four hours up yesterday and four hours back today! A lot nuts! Here is a final picture of the Bridal Veil Falls! Powerful and beautiful all at the same time!