Herbs

Grow herbs! They're easy! They smell good! On the more practical side, they are packed with vitamins and make food taste better. Scrambled eggs with mixed herbs?! Delish! Turns breakfast-for-supper into a gourmet experience.

I grew some newbies this summer. I bought a small lemongrass plant on a whim at Whole Foods in June. Uh. Two months later it is three feet wide and chest high. Now, I will learn how to cook with it. Also, I am assessing it's place in my 4x4 raised bed. Nice plant but maybe it will work better in my flower border. Guys. It is BIG. And it's year one.

Lemongrass, sage, basil, parsley, garlic chives in four foot square bed. 

When I purchased the lemongrass I also bought an herbal hibiscus. The critical ingredient in Red Zinger herbal tea which I love to drink in the cold, dark days of winter. The tiny plant in the 3-inch pot that is now five feet tall and four feet wide. I wanted it for tea this winter but I have enough to share with everyone I know. I'm thinking Christmas gifts right now.

The red stems and leaf veins give the hibiscus tea it's color.

The blue ribbon winner this year in the herb category is fennel. A gift from neighbor Suzy, it grew to six feet, was topped with umbrels of tiny yellow flowers, each became a fennel seed. The bees loved it. The butterflies loved it. I loved it. When I brushed against it while working the whole garden would be filled the the bold, spicy, fragrance of licorice. I harvested the seeds, gave them to neighbors, saved some for winter, then packed some up mailed it to my son who likes to cook. A happy surprise for us all!

Single petaled flowers, like these atop our fennel, are fast food for bees!