Lemon Verbena Lady's Herb Garden

Guest Blogging for The Herb Companion Magazine!

2009-11-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

There is a wonderful botanical garden at the beach! So if you are like me and can't be on the beach all day, there is hope for you too! So here is the post from my latest guest blogging for The Herb Companion magazine concentrating on herbs. The garden is right across the street from the Miami Beach Convention Center. It is a city block, but there are lots of different spaces and varied plants. Here are some different looks! Water is a necessary element and it was 90 degrees on the day we visited! They have a small Japanese inspired garden. The cactus from the Southwest reminded me our anniversary trip last year. The final two pictures are of an orchid wall behind a small stage where they hold special events. If you ever get the chance to go to Miami Beach, check out the Miami Beach Botanical Garden!

Herbal Sculpture!

2009-11-15T10:53:00.000-05:00

This is an 'African Blue' Basil. I had to make the photo X-large to emphasize the beautiful flowers that are still hanging on. I'll get a closeup later for you. The Herbal Husband has been babying this plant, because it would have been long gone if it had been in the garden! When it is out on the patio, the bees are still going crazy for it. Hope you have great fall weather where you are!

Last Blooms of the Season!

2009-11-14T12:17:00.000-05:00

Can't believe I'm sitting here in shorts and a t-shirt in November. Last year was also a great day and I even made a small herbal bouquet for the table. I still haven't gotten up in our attic for my winter clothes. Glad the semi-warm weather has hung on! Working on the laundry as well.

I mentioned the nasturtiums hanging on the retaining wall, so the first flower is a nasturtium. I had it in my salad last night. Of course, next is the 'Fairy' rose. I went back this morning and it is still hanging in, but I think it is about done. The tansy bloom (TANSY IS NOT AN EDIBLE FLOWER) is next and I fondly remember all of the ladybug activity this year. It was exciting! Last but not least is the mighty calendula. I have them everywhere now and they are a great fall bloomer. So I think will go out and make an herbal bouquet for the table! Talk to you later!

Thank You Laura of Wildenblue Farm Journal!

2009-11-13T10:54:00.065-05:00

It must be the rule of the Friendship Award to give it to bloggers who are having busy times in their lives! The Herbal Husband and I were away in Miami Beach when I spied my Friendship Award from Laura of Wildenblue Farm Journal. Thank you so much Laura! As it made your day, it made my day from far away!
So I needed to think of six blogs that fit the rules.

The rules of this award-

This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming.

These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.

They are not interested in self-aggrandizement.

Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.

Please give more attention to these writers.

Deliver this award to six bloggers who must choose six more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award.

So here are my choices for the Friendship Award. The girls who started my blogging experience, Nancy and Susanna and who feel like family from Rosemary's Sampler; my British friend, Alan from Seeking Episteme, he was a follower of mine from early on and has beautiful views of where he lives and childhood memories from England; Cindy, who is high energy and who writes to her sweetie and lets us read over her shoulder at Texas Tufa; Jules who writes about her life, her love (he sometimes writes too), her family and her animals at Mooncat Farms Meanderings; Martha, the hostess with the mostest (I don't need to say more!) at Lines from Linderhof and Julie, the artist, designer extraordinaire from Julie's Jabbers. Hope you all know how special you are and give me a smile, a laugh out loud and sometimes a tear! Please give this award to six other bloggers who have impacted you in some way! Let's keep it going! Be sure to check out the six I have selected.

Herbal Highlights in November!

2009-11-12T15:47:00.001-05:00

The bright silver plant is a sage Salvia officialis 'Nazareth' from Sal Gilbertie Herbs in Connecticut. The great thing is that a few local nurseries are starting to carry unusual herbs from Gilberties'. Yeah! Hopefully, it will stay through the winter.

Most of my scented geraniums are gone, but this one has survived, the apple scented. I know a lot of you take cuttings, but we don't even have room for those!

The Dutch nasturtiums are toast, but some of the other nasturtiums on the retaining wall are still green and producing a flower or two! Hope your herb garden has some highlights as well!

Remembering Veterans!

2009-11-11T10:31:00.001-05:00

These are our wonderful friends, Jim and Laverne visiting our garden this summer. Today we are taking them to see the movie "Amelia." and going out to dinner. Remember to honor those who serve our country every day and remember those who lost their lives at Fort Hood!

What's Behind Those Blinds?

2009-11-10T09:07:00.009-05:00

OK, we are back, barely! I'll let you know later what's behind these blinds! Stay tuned!

Yes, dear readers, we went to Miami Beach, specifically South Beach. If you really knew me, you would ask why? Most of my master gardening friends were shocked! I got to pick our anniversary trip last year to Arizona. So it was only fair that The Herbal Husband got to pick this year. If you want a foreign vacation and don't have a passport, Miami will work for you! The Herbal Husband splurged for a ocean front room. It was really beautiful. Oh, almost forgot we stayed at the Winterhaven South Beach. We would recommend it highly. It is away from all the craziness and noise down the street. It is located on 14th Street and Ocean Drive. We also got a great rate on the ocean front room from booking.com. It was a beautiful room with a view. This is the hotel and another view from the roof deck where you can go to get that golden tan! I was covered up most of the time! I want to thank Laura of Wildenblue Farm for my friendship award and I will get my act together shortly and both comment and do a post to share the friendship award!

Taking An Herbal Timeout!

2009-11-01T00:44:00.000-04:00

Now that I have finished my flowers, The Herbal Husband and I are going to take a short break from blogging. We will be back in a flash. So talk amongst yourselves and enjoy my favorite blogs in my sidebar.

Guest Blogging for The Herb Companion Magazine!

2009-11-01T00:40:00.000-04:00

Now that I have whined about Christmas before Halloween. I sent my post for The Herb Companion magazine about Thanksgiving! They posted it before Halloween! Do I eat crow? Maybe I have to eat these lovely sage flowers! Edible flowers remember? Hope you enjoy my post about Peru and Thanksgiving a few years ago.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T11:47:00.003-04:00

Enter If You Dare!

We either get the kids crying because they are scared or laughing and having fun! One year the sparrows who live in the ivy on the front of the house started flying around! There were three teenage girls who thought they were bats! Perfect!

P.S. We had 20 brave souls come to the door. The best comments of the night were from one of the dads who said, "You have your own adventure here!" A little girl asked me, "What are you supposed to be?" I'm the candy giver, I told her! We had kids who wanted to volunteer in our garden next summer! We will see if they show up. I should have taken names! Then if that were not enough, "our cat" came and sat on the walk like an Egyptian mummy cat. I didn't have my camera handy and it ran when a child approached. Here is a link to a previous post about the cat if you missed it! Hope you had a lot of kids and that you did not run out of treats. The first year we had 80 kids and we were handing out Hall's cough drops at the end! It was bad! Now we have leftovers! Not always a good thing!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

2009-10-30T12:28:00.000-04:00

Can you believe I heard CHRISTMAS music the other day and it isn't even HALLOWEEN! I don't think I have anything else to say. It's left me speechless, but my holly is ready to decorate! Talk to you later.

One of My Favorite Herbal Tools!

2009-10-29T16:41:00.000-04:00

If you don't have one of these, you need to get one! I'm not good with a knife. This is so easy all you have to do is wash your herbs if you use fresh ones and the little blades chop up the herbs. It, of course, works well with dried ones also. Although I do remember the dried herbs fly a little when you use it. I used this the other day for the rosemary garlic jelly! It was a lifesaver! Not a great picture, but I think you get the idea. The other thing I love about it is that is left or right handed! What's your favorite tool for herbs?

Fall Color in the Garden!

2009-10-28T11:58:00.000-04:00

Early on in our marriage and after we bought our house, we went to visit our friends, Norm and Marilyn in central Pennsylvania. The Herbal Husband and I always loved the fall colors along the Turnpike and in the countryside. He spotted this beautiful bush with brilliant red color on the highway, in a nursery, somewhere. He said we have to get one for our yard. Well, you guess it. We got home and we already had one in the yard! It is Euonymus alatus or Winged Euonymus and it is on the invasive plant list for Pennsylvania! This bush is a monster now and its main insect pest is scale. It has seeded underneath, but as yet it has not seeded anywhere else in the garden. Now I just have to convince The Herbal Husband if it does start seeding in other areas of the garden to pull them out! Hope you have some beautiful foliage color wherever you may be!

Well, The Vampires Won't Be Visiting Any Time Soon!

2009-10-27T18:04:00.001-04:00

Those were the words of The Herbal Husband today as he smelled me making Rosemary Garlic Jelly. Plus he thought it smelled wonderful. I made four recipes (16 jars) today. I used five bulbs of garlic to make four recipes. These cloves in the picture were one bulb and equalled a quarter of a cup which is what is needed for the jelly. Click on the link above to get the recipe. So I'm a little tired! By the way, you should be planting your garlic for next year. I don't think we have planted it yet. Ooops! Something else to be done! Always something!

Make Some Herbal Vinegar Quick!

2009-10-26T17:11:00.002-04:00

I got a head start! I made mine 13 days ago. It should be ready tomorrow! This is a savory/basil/garlic vinegar. I got the recipe from Herbal Treasures by Phyllis V. Shaudys. It is one (I have many) favorite herb books. It is a compilation of articles and recipes from herbie people all over the country. These vinegar recipes are from Alma Otto. The one in the picture is a 1/2 cup summer savory or tender sprigs of winter savory, a 1/4 cup basil leaves, 2 small cloves garlic and 1 quart of red-wine vinegar. I also made a couple of quarts of burnet/garlic/chives vinegar with equal parts (I used a cup of each) of salad burnet and chives and a couple cloves of garlic and a quart of white wine vinegar. Here is the leaves of the salad burnet. It is a very lovely plant. Salad burnet has a cucumber flavor to the leaves.

Here is the salad burnet in my herb garden. It is a very pretty plant. It is a short lived perennial in my garden. The main reason why I make certain herbal vinegars is that I have GERD (reflux disease). I can't easily eat cucumber or pepper. I can take the taste of the herbal vinegars I make and use them in stews and salad dressings. It is much easier for me to digest this way because I can limit the amount I ingest. Hopefully, it isn't too late for you to make your own herbal vinegar!

They are Still Enjoying Lavender!

2009-10-25T12:36:00.000-04:00

This was a few weeks ago, but I just love the fact that this little bee was happy working the last of the lavender flowers! Going to enjoy the last week of warm temperatures before we have to stay inside. Got more tea bags, more adventures to come!

Some Flowers Do Bloom Longer!

2009-10-24T17:17:00.003-04:00

This is the little sunflower that The Herbal Husband had to protect the other night from frost. It is starting to bloom and we are having Indian summer so it will continue and hopefully give some seeds for the finches.

These flowers have become a perennial, but only because they are an annual that self-sows. It is the calendula or poor man's saffron. It didn't give the saffron taste, but the color only. They have really pulled through in our garden when there have been gaps of color or bloom!

This last flower is a true perennial and a standout or up in our front garden. I talked about this flower last year. Here is that post. It is a real work horse. It is a Rubeckia herbstsonne and gets to 8 to 10 feet in a good year. It is still blooming so it must be a good year to a certain extent. Hope you all noticed that these are all yellow flowers. Still sunny in this garden even on a cloudy day! Hope you are enjoying blooming flowers in your garden!

Queen Elizabeth Stopped By For A Visit!

2009-10-23T12:22:00.001-04:00

I know I have been whining about the lack of flowers in our garden. The Herbal Husband came in with this surprise last evening! Queen Elizabeth! She has been with us since we moved to this house 20 years ago! We have even moved her around several times and she has thrived, just like her reign as Queen in the United Kingdom. She is a very easy rose to grow and blooms for us into late October! Long live the Queen in our garden!

Can See Out The Windows Again!

2009-10-22T17:58:00.000-04:00

The Herbal Husband and I tackled the front of our house today. The last beautiful day for a while! It was in the 70's. I couldn't enjoy it fully cause I was dodging ivy cutting flying off the house and dust and dirt from the gutters while holding onto the ladder for HH! Hope you enjoyed a beautiful day wherever you were. Talk to you later.

A Little Progress!

2009-10-21T17:35:00.000-04:00

As you may be able to see The Herbal Husband worked hard to cut the ivy around the windows of our house. It is amazing how quickly it grows and takes over! Hopefully we will get someone else to climb up on the roof and cut the ivy back! Always an adventure!

Is This A College Dorm?

2009-10-20T13:30:00.000-04:00

No, dear readers, this is our home! The English ivy has taken over! This is a tradition once a year. Probably should be twice, but if it were twice, it would grow even more. The magazine Horticulture had an article about ivy covered buildings in Sweden, Norway or Denmark several years ago saying that the ivy provides insulation for the building. That's all The Herbal Husband needed to hear. The neighbors think we are a little looney. So tomorrow will be the first day of cutting and our sparrows who live there won't like it. They will get over it though. They always do! Needs to happen. Talk to you later.

We Really Love Our Plants!

2009-10-19T10:51:00.002-04:00

This little plant (a sunflower) was just about to bloom. The Herbal Husband put some insulating fabric and this paper bag around it last night. Hope for the best! We are going to have an Indian summer now that we have had our first frost. Temperatures back up to almost 70 by the end of the week. I think the nasturtiums are done. P.S. The sunflower has survived but has some leaf damage!!! Hopefully it should bloom later this week. Hurry, hurry little sunflower! Hope you are enjoying the weather wherever you may be!

A Rose Guide from the Past!

2009-10-18T13:12:00.001-04:00

The Herbal Husband surprises me from time to time with little gifts. He collects among other things World's Fair stuff. This as you can see is from the 1933 Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition. The back of the booklet has a quarter coupon off your rose selection. For the hybrid tea roses, the prices were from $.50 to $.75 a plant and with the coupon, some could cost as little as a quarter!

The Novelties were the most expensive. Two dollars bought you Blaze, Countess Vandall and one called Amelia Earhart. You could buy Mary Hart for $1.50. Isn't Mary Hart still on ET? Well, it's a neat little booklet. Thanks HH for the present!

Herbal Worktable/Herbal Ravioli! (UPDATED)

2009-10-17T11:04:00.003-04:00

Every year my herbal worktable is the same mess! It does inspire me to get my herbal act together. I have already made tea bags with the chamomile harvest and yesterday I made a blend of herbs called Lemon Verbena Lady's blend. Haven't tried it yet. I will let you know how it is. Yes, it does have lemon verbena as a base. I have 44 bags and if it isn't good, it will be a long winter! It looks like herbal ravioli!

It is a little wintry temperature wise out now. Didn't get snow yet, but to the east they have snow. I guess the skiers will be happy!

Well, I give my lemon verbena lady blend a double thumbs up! Look it is even a space saver in the cup! What's that about? I have to say the second cup I had the bag opened. Not as good at ironing as I thought!!!

Guest Blogging for The Herb Companion Magazine!

2009-10-16T11:00:00.003-04:00

This is usually a place of action in the garden. This is pineapple sage (Salvia elegans). A beautiful plant in late summer/early fall. We are supposed to be in the 20s over the weekend. The end is near. It has not been overworked by the hummingbirds this season. They got tired of the cooler weather and went to Mexico early! Can't blame the darlings. I think if we had a feeder, we would have had more interest. The Herbal Husband loves flowers to attract the hummers. He has enough feeders to worry about! So here is my post for The Herb Companion magazine. Hope you enjoy it!