http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/675791/#new
That's a link to last year's slightly massive thread on my 20-foot circle herb garden. This is a pic I took this morning for anyone who is interested. The arch is gone, thanks to a windstorm several weeks ago, and I don't plan on replacing it.
Here is the north quarter, with comfrey doing VERY well, and yarrow taking over quite a bit:
And to the east, where the lemon balm is... shall we say... well established:
The south, where the maypop is no longer (windstorm) but the rosemary reigns. Is the St. John's wort getting out of hand? I mean seriously, it seems to be a lovely ground cover but I'm worried that it's going to strangle the dwarf pomegranate:
And the west, with bee balm, valerian, aloe, and oregano, among others:
Here you see how the SJW is taking over. The pomegranate is the little thing between the small bamboo stakes. I just pulled quite a bit of SJW away from it. How worried should I be, if anyone knows? Or should I just let it go?
That's stevia right in the center, between the rosemary and the pineapple sage.
AND LAVENDER THAT HASN'T DIED!!!
That's it for now. I'm so busy in the vegetable garden (you can see it WAY in the background in the first picture) that I hardly have time for the herbs. I picked 16 tomatoes this morning, and the fewest I've picked any day in the last couple of weeks is eight. Yum. 'Mater sandwiches.
Simply incredible. Thanks for posting.
Brigid! Your herb garden is lovely. What type of St. John's do you have? That's not Hypericum perforatum.
Ruh roh. Do I only think that's SJW? That's what I planted there, and what you see is what grew, so that's what I assumed this was. Hmmm... maybe I'll get out a herb book... and a weed book...
LOL brigidlily I am rather fond of nuturing weeds all summer until someone tells me ^_^
LOL. Hey, it's only weed if you don't know a use for it!
Here's a pic of my St. John's (H. perforatum). It gets about 2-3 feet tall. You can tell if it is perforatum by taking one of the oval leaves and holding it to the sky, you should see little "holes" (they are oil glands) in the leaves. Hence the perforatum name.
That's growing wild out by the ditch. Go figure.
Anybody know what's growing in my garden? I'd hate to leave it and it crowds out the pomegranate, but then I'd hate to pull it and find out it's a rare and valuable cure for Alzheimer's.
Brigidlily, can you get a close up of your plant??
Thought of that this morning as I pulled more up, but didn't go get the camera. I will, though -- since it's growing so well I'd surely love to know what it is!
Wow! Your garden has filled in gorgeously!
Groundcovers are wonderful... they look good, help hold moisture in the soil, and keep down weeds. I do the same thing you did, pull them back a bit from any plant that's just getting started. If you pull up a big of your mystery plant and it seems to have fairly shallow roots, probably you don't have to worry about it strangling or out-competing anything else.
Forgot to get the picture, but this thing is sending roots out. So far what I've needed to pull has been easy, though.
Eeeps! Don't pull it til you know if you need it or not! Like you said, it might be something valuable, I just can't tell from the pic above!
I think she's just pulling it from around the base of her dwarf pom so far. :-)
Here's a closeup of it in the ground.
And here is a runner I pulled up. Any ideas, anyone? It does not have a strong smell -- just kind of smells like plant, if you know what I mean. No flowers, though I don't recall whether it flowered at all last year. I'll put these on the plant ID forum as well.
It finally blossomed, and it looks like SJW to me. Any ideas, anyone? Thanks!
it sure does look like St. John's! Weird that it would be so low to the ground prior to blooming though. Can you see little holes in the flowers and leaves of your SJW when you hold it up to the sky? If so, it is Hypericum perforatum. Also, when you bruise the flower between your finger and thumb, your digits should turn red-purple.
I'll take a look (and a squeeze) when I get home this evening. We'll figure this out!
Definitely perforated! It's really odd about the growth habit, though. The bits that bloom are quite a bit more upright, but the leaves on the "carpet" are perforated. Hmmm.
Pardon me for bumping this, but my herb garden looked and smelled and felt so good and lush this morning it was almost song. Here's a pic:
Here is Pat Austin blooming:
Rainbow Sorbet:
Cosmos and basil under a rose:
Marigold and aloe in front of valerian:
Rosemary:
(Final) Thyme and oregano on the other side of the valerian (which is hard to tell from the monarda; both got BIG):
Luscious!! Thank you for sharing with us... I could just imagine those heady scents!
I could have stayed home and smelled it all day long.
Lovely!!!! What a delight.
Just realized this is the garden's third summer. There's still a lot of work to do on it, filling in spaces, etc., but most of what I've wanted is established. I've certainly learned a lot -- like don't let basil go to seed unless you really want lots of basil the next year, and don't even try to grow horehound in Texas! I'm realizing native plants really are the way to go. I'm sure a lot of what I have is exotic to Texas but still grows well, but (except for the veggie garden) I plan to stick with natives pretty much.
You have a beautiful herb garden. Mine is scattered among my flowers. St Johns wort likes my garden path better than my flower beds and i just let him be.
I'm new to DG and love herbs. I've most of what brigedlily has except valerian.
Vickie
Thanks for the compliments, herbalbetty and cando1. I'm grateful this garden has taken off as well as it has. Sure wish I could grow that horehound, though! But I'm NOT COMPLAINING! :}
Brigid, I grow horehound fine, but rosemary I have to take in the house for the winter. So, I'll grow the horehound, you grow the rosemary and between us we'll have all the herbs.
