Herbs growers?

[SouthDakotaRose]

We have a very lovely herb garden that was planted as a memorial garden for our sweet daughter Deirdre who passed away from ovarian cancer eleven years ago.

It was her dying wish to plant this garden as she loved using different herbs and it had been our plan to plant such a garden that summer she got sick. We live on five acres in the country and she lived in an apartment in Seattle so had little room for the ideas we put together.

After she died, my husband and I spent months planning and building and planting this garden for her. It is a thirty foot circle with formal stone pathways and planting beds for all the herbs she wanted. It has small trees along the north sides and plantings of lavender, bee balm, borage, oregano, lemon balm, many varieties of mints, st. john's wort, etc. with many places for creeping thymes.

It is a wonderful sight in midsummer when everything is in full bloom. There is a stone in the center circle with an angel playing a harp and a little standing angel holding a bunny beside the curved stone bench set in to one side of the walkway.

It turned out as she wanted, as she planned with me while she was in the hospital in Seattle enduring endless surgeries and mindnumbing chemo.

One of her last requests before she died was to have us complete her garden and for her to come home at last. It was a labor of love and one that helped us survive the emptiness of loosing our only child during that endless miserable summer.

SouthDakotaRose

 

[me&thegals]

What a beautiful, healing way to celebrate her life and dearest wish! As a mother, I can only imagine your loss and give my deepest regrets, but I am so glad you have such a peaceful beautiful place to remember her.

 

[Reinbeau]

SouthDakotaRose, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your dear daugher, I cannot imagine the pain of losing a child. I hope you get years of enjoyment from your herb garden, and I hope it brings you happiness to know your daughter had a hand in designing it. I have memory plants throughout my garden, for people who have passed over my lifetime, I grow masterwort for my Mother (who is still with us, thankfully) and nasturtiums in memory of my father, who loved them. Take a photo of it this spring, when it's in full flourish, and post it here for us all to enjoy.

 

[SouthDakotaRose]

Thank you all for your kind replies. Yes, she is sorely missed and her garden does indeed give us a measure of healing. You cannot imagine how many times we have said to each other that she would have loved how it turned out.

Yes, I will take some pix of it this spring and share it with all of you. It really turned out just beautiful.

SouthDakotaRose

 

[Bebop]

I used to grow mints (chocolate, orange, apple, pineapple, peppermint and spearmint), lemon verbena, lemon balm, french tarragon, cilantro, rosemary, and all kinds of basils before I moved.

I finally have some spearmint and lemon balm, I'm really glad I still have basil and cilantro seeds, and I hope to trade for more mints and lemon verbena and thyme. I'm also going to try parsley, sage, fennel, dill, and korean licorice mint. funfun!
>^.^<

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

Heck, thats all I really grow. Different varieties of mint. There are so many different types of mint, each with its own remedies.



~Rio

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi there! :happy_flower

I grow my herbs everywhere I can find a bit of space, inside & out I love them & they make such a difference to your cooking.
I like them mixed in with my flowers & my veggies. I'm growing some of my garlic round some roses as they say it helps to keep bugs away from them. The same with garlic chives. I grow lovage in my flower borders because it's such a tall majestic plant (6--8ft tall). I haven't seen anyone talking about it on TEG; It's a lovely tender green & grows very fast every spring once it is established. Mine is now about 2ft tall. You use the leaves & later the seeds. It tastes a little like celery. The very young leaves are good used sparingly in salads and in casseroles or soups. You can also dry the leaves for use in the winter. I love very tall plants like lovage, artichokes & cardoons because they help to give the garden structure & interest.

I have just revamped the area round my tiny pond -- I've put flattish rocks round the edge to disguise the lip of the rigid plastic pond liner. Then I extended the shape with more rocks of different sizes & cramming various low growing thymes between them. I shall add marjoram & oregano & Corsican mint (if I can get it), I'm going to give French Tarragon another go but I always seem to lose it, and is expensive to buy because it will only grow from cuttings -- the Russian Tarragon is easy to grow from seed but doesn't taste nearly as good.

I've sown both green & bronze fennel amongst my flowers & shrubs, along with the lemon balm. The dill I've sown as far away as possible from them so I hope they don't cross pollinate......!!

Basil (of various kinds) I always grow in beautiful pots so I can grab them quick if/when the weather gets cold in the fall ; I try to keep them going as long as I can through the winter. Mint I also grow in various deep pots so they can't escape. I'm also growing various oriental herbs & spices this year -- I'll let you know the names & how they do later on.

I use quite a bit of coriander, both for leaves & seeds so I am always trying out new strains. An Indian lady told me to roll a stone lightly over the seeds prior to sowing them in the soil --just enough to crack the outer coating of the seed . HANDY HINT

In my last house I had a large herb garden in a wheel design but It was a real PAIN as herbs are not neat & tidy plants & they don't like the same conditions. They also self-seed into the other herbs' areas. That idea didn't last long for me I'm afraid. The :bee :bee :bee loved it though!

Well that's enough from me. I love herbs so I could go on for hours .....!!!

I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND IN YOUR GARDENS & THE SPRING HAS COME AT LAST. :tools :coolsun :tools :coolsun :tools :coolsun :tools

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[digitS']

:bouquet Hattie, your posts are an awful lot of fun to read.

Steve
:rose

 

[vfem]

:bouquet Hattie, your posts are an awful lot of fun to read.

Steve
:rose

Ditto

 

[Reinbeau]

I have to say I agree. The smileys are fun, but too many are just too distracting to actually read the post.