Friday, May 27, 2016

Ready for Some Relaxation

Yesterday I sat for a quiet few minutes here with Beau under my chair. Quite peaceful.
My shade bed with hostas, lambs' ears, and astilbe is looking very nice, even after the yard flooding of a couple weeks ago.
My gardenia is blooming its heart out. See how it leans right? It's stretching for the sunrise.
I have English ivy leaves bigger than my hand.
This morning early, before heading for a day at the hospital with a parishioner facing a second surgery in two days, Adam expanded our herb bed.
He's doubling the size and leaving space for a walk up the middle between the two halves.
 He's now used up all his compost for the year.
Into that new space I put some lemon verbena and lemon balm. I also bought a bleeding heart plant and a tiny bay tree! I've wanted a bay tree for many years, ever since hearing Tasha Tudor talk about hers.
 Sage is blooming.
So is the borage.
I have two rosemary bushes. The larger one is doing well, stuck into a hole near the herb bed. The other one was quite unhappy in the rich soil of the herb bed and was looking quite peaky. So Adam dug her up and moved her to a hole on the back of the property. It's drier there. I've always heard that rosemary doesn't like rich soil but thrives in poor soil -- as long as it's well-drained. Think of rocky, dry Mediterranean soil. We're not very Mediterranean around here but here's hoping she will recover and perk up in her new home.

I think I drifted into a farm post over here on ye olde blogge :) This time next week I'll be done with work for the school year (yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I see a nice, long, quiet summer stretching ahead of me.

7 comments:

GretchenJoanna said...

That drifting happened to me, too, today! It's hard not to want to talk about all the lovely things that are growing. I'm glad you did.

I have borage in a pot that a friend gave me and I can't decide where to plant it. I've known about borage for years but this is my first very own plant!

Gardenias are one of my favorites - they wouldn't do well here, I'm afraid, because as I understand, they like heat, but not sun. We have sun with little heat :-( I tried growing a bush in our old home that was a little less coastal, and even there they weren't very happy.

Una said...

Great photos. I'm glad you are finding time to relax and enjoy the view.

Pom Pom said...

I'm so glad that school is almost over. Will you go back next year?

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

So peaceful there at your place!

Herb garden looks great as does everything else.

Have a wonderful, long weekend ~ FlowerLady

Lisa Richards said...

Your little sitting place looks so cool and pleasant. I would be out there all day long! It was bound to happen. Since your home life and farm life take place in the same place, it will be hard to avoid overlapping, lol. The variety of crops is mind staggering!

Gumbo Lily said...

I just planted a whiskey barrel with herbs: lemon balm, basil, oregano, rosemary and tucked a peppermint in my rock garden. I don't care if it wants to spread in there. It's looking very lovely there. I'm glad you're finding moments to sit and soak in the beauty of your hands. Wishing you nice summer days enjoying your gardens.

Gumbo Lily said...

The gardenia is gorgeous! We don't have such things here. Lucky you!