Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A Tour of My Herb Gardens

Yes, I have more than one. :P And there are several scattered all over the yard in various places. So you can't exactly call those gardens. :P
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In area number one (in our back yard), the most prominent plant is the sage. I had no idea they it could get so big. I should have gotten a picture of one of the huge leaves. But I also didn't want to get too close to it at the time...the bees love it. :P I have more sage than I can ever use in my lifetime. There's another plant in an area in the front yard.

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To the left of the sage is a big Oregano plant that I've had for a few years. Right now it's more underneath the sage, though. :P Once the flowers on the sage die, I'll be cutting several of the branches. To the left of the oregano is basil (not pictured).

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Off to the right of the sage is rosemary. I really don't feel like it's truly "mine" since I have to buy a new plant every year.

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All the way to the right are several little savory plants. They're all babies right now. :) To the left of the savory is parsley, but it's currently going to seed and isn't very pretty. :P

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In the back is orange mint. A very hardy little plant. Se how these branches are growing up between some bricks? :P

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Overshadowed by the sage on the right side is marjoram. A little behind it is lemon balm (not pictured). Also in this area are several tiny dill, feverfew, and horehound plants.

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All the way on the left is chocolate mint. It smells wonderful! :)

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In a small area to the right where we just dug up a 40+ year old rose bush that died over the winter are a few of my herbs that will grow into large plants.

Thyme. It's very hard to get a good-looking picture of this one. :P

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Lavender. This plant is 3 or 4 years old. It's slowly getting bigger. I also have English Lavender in an area at the front of the house. It's new this year.

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Russian Sage. Probably my most prized plant. I love it! It gets tiny pale purple flowers on it later in the summer.

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To the right of that one is another area...

Chamomile. One of the easiest to harvest from. :)

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Parsley. We use lots of it, mostly in salads.

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More oregano, taken from the plant in area one.

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Watercress. Great in salads. It tastes kinda like radishes.

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Also in the back yard is tons of mint in several places.

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And chives in two places. Mom likes it in the garden to attract the bees.

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In the front I have a small area with rocks around it. One of my huge sage plants is there, as well as one of my stevia plants (I couldn't get a good picture of that yet). I also have a big ground cover between all of the plants that has pretty purple flowers on it in the early spring. Also there are:

Germander. It has tiny purple flowers later in the season. Notice that the majority of herbs have purple flowers...:P

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My biggest marjoram plant. Marjoram's an odd one...it's flowers are white. :)

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Lemon Balm. My biggest (the sage here doesn't get in it's way). It has a sweet lemon taste and scent.

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Feverfew. It's flowers are like a bigger version of chamomile flowers.

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Others that I have that I don't have pictures of yet are catnip, basil, dill, horehound, tarragon, yarrow, coriander (aka, cilantro), aloe, and stevia. Hopefully my lemon verbena, lemon thyme, and tri-color sage will revive. They don't look too promising, though. :(
I can post pictures of flowers as they bloom. :)

3 comments:

Josiah English said...

Wow! Those are pretty cool! I envy you the gardens, but not the hard work it must take to keep them up. :P

Scotland

Artisan of the Shire said...

I like lemon balm. And chocolate mints certainlt sounds like it smells wonderful!
I really enjoyed this little tour. I can tell you're dedicated to the care and keeping of the plants, just like Sam Gamgee. Thank you!

Jaime said...

Well, the upkeep isn't that hard. The majority of them grow back every year and they thrive without me doing a thing to them. But if I want to get the most out of them, it does take a lot of work. At least once a week I harvest, clean, dry, grind, and store them. It can be very time-consuming with so many, so there are some that I let go. Mainly sage and mint. We don't really need that much of it.
It is quite rewarding, though, to be able to go outside to pick some fresh herbs to use while cooking dinner, or to grab a big container of dried herbs and know that you didn't have to pay through the nose for it. :P