A Favorite Coming Back in the Herb Garden! Is There One in Your Garden?

We had a cold and wet winter this past season.  Here in the southwestern PA area, we are typically Zone 6.  I am always excited when an herb that is not hardy for us, comes back.  Such is the case with this lemon verbena.  I always have multiples and this year I have four, three in the garden and one in a container.  It has been raining almost every day and two of the three in the ground are waterlogged.  Not this one.  It is very happy with the reflected heat of the wall!  I'm happy as well.  If a unexpected favorite is coming back in your herb garden, please let us know about it.  Talk to you later.

Phil Was Completely Wrong and We Still Have Snow!

The Herb Garden As of This Morning!

Just in case you thought you were missing something going on in my herb garden.  Yes, herbs are waking up and being covered all over again by snow.  Hopefully SW PA will be on the road to spring by this weekend.  It's Easter!  We are supposed to be 50's.  So we can only pray to the herbal gods that the forecasters will be correct.  What's it doing in your neighborhood?  Hope everyone has a very blessed Passover and Easter holiday.  I'm going to make an attempt to post more for The Herbal Bouquet.  Talk to you later.

Lemon Verbena Lady

A Great Season For Sunflowers!

Sorry to not have been around too much this summer season.  Hope you have all had a great gardening year!  I just had to share one of our sunflowers from our small field.  It's 'Moulin Rouge' from Renee's Garden Seeds or it could be 'Chocolate' as well!  Marked them with sticks, but somehow we didn't get a map made and most of them grew.  Some didn't!  The sticks got moved.  You know how that goes!  Talk to you later.

Just the Favorite Time for This Herb!

I think spring and fall are my two favorite seasons.  These last few days have been spectacular in southwestern Pennsylvania.  The pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) is not nearly as pretty as usual and the humming birds are long gone, but it is an edible flower and you should use it fresh not dried.  Our pineapple sage did come back from last year (not typical) and so we potted it up and are bringing it in for the season.  Everyone in the south is lucky to have it as a perennial.  Use it in fruit salads and iced or hot teas.  I always talk about this too late in the season when it is just about over.  Hope you all have had a great summer.  Talk to you later!  Lemon Verbena Lady

Snow Report from Southwestern PA!

Well, I have been an herbal slug and not posted for awhile!  So here is my snow report for the snowstorm that just came through the last two days!  We had 7-1/2 inches in southwestern Pennsylvania.  We might have had a little bit on the ground already so maybe 5" total!  Just a blimp on the radar compared to the East Coast and the New England states.  Hope everyone stays warm and hopefully you'll be able to see my herb garden in my next post!  Talk to you soon.

Just Wanted to Say Hi!

Just wanted to say hi and thank Judy for asking to me to participate in The Herbal Bouquet.  This is our front garden in western Pennsylvania.  I know it's a little crazy!  I'm a Penn State master gardener and I volunteer answering the public's gardening questions for our Gardenline.  I also guest blog for The Herb Companion magazine.   The Herbal Husband and I have a large garden and no kids or pets.  My passion is all things herbal, but I do answer a wide variety of questions for the extension.  So you will see and hear from me when I can and when I can come up with an answer for questions that's what I love to do.  Talk to you soon.