There's a Frog Trying to Get in the House!

The Herbal Husband was picking figs at night!  That's a story for another time!  He ran upstairs and interrupted my nap while watching the U.S. Open tennis with...there's a frog trying to get in the house.  Bring the camera for a picture!  Well, I knew it was not a frog, but probably a toad.  Maybe it's the toad from earlier in the year that I found out in the front garden.  It was really dark on the patio and the first photo missed!

This photo is a little better, but here is a little better one.  The Herbal Husband thinks it's the one from the front.  He/she was really exposed on the patio and when we looked for him/her this morning, it had vanished!  Toads do a good disappearing act!   Here is the earlier post.  I think it might be a relative.  You decide!  Hope you have toads or frogs in your garden!

Leaning Lavender!

This sweet lavender (Lavandula heterophylla) has had a tough season in the shade a lot of the summer!  The Herbal Husband finally said to me the other day, this lavender is leaning.  Should I put it in the SUN?  Yes, please, I said!  It is still leaning a little, but it is better than it was!  Lavender is the herb of devotion and that is imprinted on the container it is in.  Hope you are having a good Labor Day holiday in the USA!

It Finally Has Bloomed!

When we came home from England and Spain this spring, I noticed that one of my favorite viburnums had not bloomed.  We had a few days of late frost and I think that is what took the blossoms early.  This viburnum is called 'Newport'.  I got it because it doesn't get taller than four feet!  It is a little taller in this garden.  Well, I'm happy to see a few blossoms than none at all!  Hope you have great weather wherever you may be!

The Last Gasp of Herbal Summer!

I must admit that the late summer and fall are my favorite times of the year here in the 'Burgh!  I think I might have mentioned it before!  It bears repeating again and again!  I was busy in the kitchen today making a couple of recipes of cinnamon basil jelly.  Didn't quite get enough cinnamon basil to make three recipes!  Will have to make a note that I need to plant more cinnamon basil from seed or buy more plants next year.  I get really lazy and it is so easy to buy the plants already grown!  Well, I hope all of you in the USA have a very happy and safe labor day on Monday!  Can't believe summer is almost over!  Hope you are enjoying great weather wherever you may be!

A Spoon Full of Sugar

Over the summer, we've been playing around with different kinds of herbal preparations. That's always just fun to do - especially during a summer like this one, where the weather produced several cuttings of everything. One purpose was to give some of these herbs to our brother. He must have zero alcohol, and isn't the type to drink tea. Now I know all about the amount of alcohol in a tincture being equal to that of a ripe banana... heck, we told that to our customers at the shop 15 years ago! But when someone truly has a problem and cologne might set them off, who really wants to take that chance?

So syrup was a brief fascination, but it rapidly turned to hard candy! Now this is fun!

We currently have 4 of them, all up on the shopping cart.

The first is Elderberry Bits. We picked fresh, plump elderberries and added ginger and lemon. The resulting candies are delicious and both our brother and my college girl have handy, tasty elderberry available.

Next is Herbalicious. This one is crammed with herbal goodness. We added mint, holy basil, elderberry, rose geranium, lemon verbena, orange, lemon, thyme, ginger, cardamom, and rosemary. It is surprisingly wonderful, and the name of the line just popped into our heads.

Then Lemon Balm Bombe. Luscious lemon balm, along with lemon juice, passionflower, and a few blueberries from the garden. Tulsi Twist is a combination of Tulsi (holy basil) with goji berries and a kiss of peppermint. Exquisite.

You might want to give these delightful hard candies a try. They are such a sweet and convenient way to keep your favorite herbs handy - wherever you are!

Look What Popped Up in the Herb Garden!

In the last incarnation of this bed, I had placed germander, santolina in an overgrown knot garden and for a surprise in the center I placed two 'Golden Jubilee' anise hyssops.  During one very cold winter several years ago, I looked out the kitchen window and spotted a rabbit poking his/her head out of the center of this bed.  It had made a home in the ice and snow on top of the anise hyssops!  The next spring I only had one 'Golden Jubilee' left!  I think the rabbit made a nest around the other or just sat on the poor thing and it rotted!  This anise hyssop needs well-drained soil and full sun, but it will also tolerate light shade.  It has chartreuse foliage and lavender-purple flowers.  The flowers are edible and tasty.  Like Good 'N Plenty candy!  It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies.  It is very drought tolerant!  It is a plant that the deer don't eat it!  Whoo! Hoo!  Next season, we will have to move this one to another spot in the garden.  It's a herbal keeper!

Milestones can be heavy...

To begin with, this is the 500th post on the blog. I've been mulling it over and thinking about it - and you'll notice that I haven't written for a long time! Somehow it felt that it should be monumental or important. Let's just say that we could wait forever for that to happen - OR - we could say that happens every day. Depends on the outlook.
The other milestone was the littlest herbie going off to college. She didn't go far, but it is very different here. Before she was born, I loved to feel her moving around, safe and warm. It was a feeling that all was right with the world. After she was born, I missed that feeling.
The other day I woke up and stayed a while, thinking against the pillow, realizing that each morning for the last 18 years my first thought upon waking has been about Molly, being conscious of where she was, whether she was awake, what we had to accomplish that day. Having her live somewhere else is a little disconcerting. I will probably get used to it. I may even come to like it. We'll see.
There. I did it.
Now we can move on and not fret until the 1000th post.
In the meantime, download this free issue of TEH and share it with your friends.
Happy Labor Day!

It's Travel Thursday--Can I Really Take These Plants Home With Me?

I can't believe it is another Thursday!  Wow!  The weeks are just flying by!  This photo was taken on our trip to France several years ago.  I'm always lamenting the fact that I can't take plants back from foreign countries!  This was part of an exhibit at the International Garden Festival in France at Chaumont Sur Loire.  The 18th edition is going on now in the Loire Valley in France.  The theme this year is Colorful Gardens.  This photo was one of my favorite exhibits the year we were there using borrowed views.  We were there late in the exhibit.  If you are in France, you need to go.  It is a very interesting day for gardening buffs!

Looks Like a Weed but It Smells Good!

I was in the back by the fence the other day and came across this little gem.  It is a coconut scented geranium that has self sowed itself for several years.  Last year we had to have a new air conditioner.  The air conditioning unit is like a small house.  I'm sure somewhere in a developing country, they could use it.  So that took out my scented geranium garden, but some scented geraniums self sow more easily than others.  Apple and coconut come to mind most often.  It is tucked into a clump of sweet woodruff.  Enjoy those self sowers wherever they may be in your garden!  P.S. I got a box of lemon basil jelly done yesterday.  The kitchen had an intoxicating smell all afternoon!

Don't Forget Those Late Herbal Bouquets and Herb Jellies!

This has been such an unusual year in the herb garden!  We still are cutting sweet peas in August!  I have to see whether there are any to cut today, September 1!  I try to have a bouquet on our dining table each day in the summer.  Doesn't always happen, but I try.  This morning when I turned the Maggie Oster 2009 calendar to September, I found the subject to be herb jelly!  Guess what I'm making this afternoon, lemon basil jelly.  The basil has endured temperatures in the low 50's and high 40's.  It is time to start cutting basil and making jelly.  You can find the recipe I use by clicking on the link for Renee's Garden and then click on cookbooks/recipes and then click on herb jellies.  It is my very favorite recipe to use for the scented basils, lemon, lime, cinnamon and anise basil among others.  I will be making cinnamon basil jelly later this week.