some photos of the garden

Things are glorious in my garden right now. Here are a few photos of some roses and herbs...

Borage

And Apothecary Rose - that's an herb!!

And foxgloves, campanulas, lupines, delphiniums and lamb's ear...

Constance Spry rose

Angelica dahurica

In foreground, Betty Corning clematis
Dark pink rose behind is Grootendorst
Light pink tall rose on arbor is Paul's Himalayan Musk

Luvly herbalbetty. wow you have such tall campanula! What variety is that one? Thanks.

Beautiful photos BEtty, Is that angelica annual? or Perennial?

Oh, I've gotta have that rose! That's the Lancashire rose. Rosa alba ‘White Rose of York’ aka Rosa alba ‘Semi-Plena’ is the Yorkshire rose. My DH was born in Yorkshire, raised in Lancashire. Perfect!

I can't find the variety of campanula right now! Dang it.

The Angelica dahurica is a biennial as most angelicas are. However, often if you cut off the seed heads, they will live for a few years as a perennial. Or, let them self sow.

Lovely, herbalbetty! While I do NOT envy the harsh winters, it seems northern gardens put on more of a show than they do here. Maybe it's the contrast. Maybe it's that so many things that will grow up there just can't take the heat down here. I guess every zone has its good and bad points. But your flowers are just beautiful.

love the foxglove shot.
I could almost smell that spry rose....

Brigid, every zone has its pros and cons. I can't overwinter rosemary, vitex, white sage and an assortment of other herbs here. However, when it is July 2 and 74 degrees and my garden is blooming so wonderfully, I can't really find fault with my zone!

I know -- I won't gripe about fresh tomatoes in late April, but it's SO sad to have to cut them back in June! But I can grow them again in the fall, and most of my herbs to overwinter.

No lilacs, though!

What would spring be without lilacs? And summer without peonies? But I don't get tomatoes until July! And my pansies bloom all summer. As does calendula. I guess you will have to visit me in summer and I will visit you in winter! :-)

Pansies and calendula are what I count on for color in winter! But I don't know that I could do without magnolias and crape myrtles all summer long; they're glorious.

Yes, each zone has its appeal; it's pretty easy to make lemonade out of these lemons! I'll spend July at your house and you can come here in November; I have a nice little cottage bedroom if you're not allergic to cats. ;}

Betty, can you tell us some of your more unusual herbs that you grow? curious minds want to know

Brigid, unfortunately, I am very allergic to kitties. :-(

Kathy Ann, let's see....unusual herbs, of course one woman's unusual is another woman's usual, but here are some:

Eleuthero (Siberian ginseng)
Goldenseal
Rose Petal Monarda
Rose Petal Thyme (and about 40 others)
Cancer Bush (in a pot)
Costus (in a pot)
Elecampane
Angelicas (archangelica, sinensis, dahurica, Korean)
Yomogi
Lime Balm
Gotu Kola (in pot)
Siberian Motherwort
Lion's Ear
California poppy
Marshmallow
Avens
Horehound
Small Leaf Willow Herb
Grindelia
Osha
Horny Goat Weed
Pulsatilla
Arnica (montana and chamissonis)
Black cohosh
Blue cohosh
Cactus grandiflora
Baptisia
Florentine Iris
Blue Vervain
Joe Pye
Boneset
Pennyroyal
Great Blue Lobelia
Skullcap (Mad dog and Baikal)
Codonopsis
Ashwagandha
White Sage
Belacamda
Lungwort
Liverwort
Solomon's Seal
Astragalus
Oregon Grape Root
Bayberry
Elderberries

There's lots more, but it would require thinking!

LOL ~ Like that didn't take some thought! Some unusual ones not just for the south but for the US. Happy 4th all.

Nice list, I have several of those, tired of the lime balm taking over, I think I pulled up a bunch a while back. but didn't get it all LOL

I didn't realize the gota kola was tender perennial till this spring, when only a fraction of mine came back and I dug it up and put it in a pot

You don't have foti? that's an unusual one too. I think anyways.

I've grown angelica before, and never came back even the second year for me. have had valarian and it smelled so wonderful when in bloom, I"d like to try to get that again.

Just bought some diff varieties of roman chamomile, I forget their names, one was the double flowering and the other is the lawn carpet one, shorter than the regular roman chamomile.
bought bay laurel cause mine bit the dust, gosh I forget what I bought, will have to post here when it comes in, bought them from wellsweep. Was looking for variegated african blue basil, having trouble finding that one.

I just read the other day in wellsweep that horsetail rush was an herb and that it was used for sandpaper cool ha? have to go dig up that info, I didn't realize it, had some form of crystals inside it, learn something new everyday.

OH yeah, I just got african yerba buena off ebay. was thrilled with that. got it from potato_rock he's got some neat native plants at his nursery.

OH YES< I got the greek mountain tea from well sweep which was why I wanted to order from them in the first place, mine passed away . I love the smell of that stuff. smells wonderful

and the blue curl rue, and the prairie frost echinacea which is almost extinct now LOL

I am assuming you guys know of
http://www.crimson-sage.com/
a great source.I have Himalayan Valerian and I think it smells like old socks!
Add AWAPUHI-KUAHIWI - Wild ginger (Zingiber zerumbet) as a fave. you can shampoo with it :-)
A.

Herbal people,
i have an arnica plant,how best to use it? A balm ,a tincture? roots or leaves?
thanks
A.

Kathy Ann, I have Fo Ti as well. It's in a pot too. And so is turmeric, galangal, ginger, vanilla orchid and mandrake. That's by no means a complete list above, LOL. I have horsetail too, it came in with some horse manure. Keep pulling it out of everywhere. Berkeley Annie, I ordered Himalayan Valerian from Crimson Sage last year and it made it through the winter, but died in our see-saw spring. Snow cover melted then below zero temps! Arnica should NEVER be taken internally. You can make a nice infused oil with it and massage in as is or make it into a salve. It's terrific for reducing black and blue marks, bruises of all sorts and swellings. Good sore muscle reliever too. A little oil goes a long way.

Thanks HB
Make the oil with root or leaves or both?
I use arnica all the time for sore muscles and pre dentist etc. in a homeopathy pill.
As well as some fancy tubed goo mixed in with aloe.thats why i planted it!
A.

Just the flowers from arnica. Homeopathic is different than whole herb. Never the herb arnica internally. Makes cardiac problems. Annie, do you have Arnica montana or Arnica chamissonis?

thanks again ,betty.Montana.
A.

I love crimsonsage.com, reasonable prices also, I've purchased twice from them,

I also just recently got a variegated land cress. forget the name of it. it's neat looking. great in salads but I hear it's strong.

My favorite places for unusual herbs is Crimson Sage, Horizon Herbs and Companion Plants. They all pack super well, have good plants and prices and are friendly folk.

Yesterday was our 24th wedding anniversary and DH and I went over to Ithaca, NY to Cornell to visit the Robison York Herb Gardens. Been there several times over the years, but they renovated the plants 2 years ago and we went to see how it was. Freaking fabulous!

I'd have fun at that place, do they ever sell their herbs?

Robison York doesn't sell their herbs that I know of, but maybe they have some sort of plant sale in the spring?? Not sure. Here's a pic of some of the gardens.

Betty, what can you tell me about the Apothecary Rose? I just received mine - it's about 'quart' sized - and was planning on putting it in a large pot. Wondering if I should 'step it up' in pot size, or will it grow so fast this time of year that I should put it in the 5 gallon pot? I've read that it is suitable for container growing.

Kathleen

Kathleen, I have my apothecary rose in the ground, so can't tell you for sure about growing it in a pot. I would think you would want it in the bigger pot though. My apothecary rose is at least 5 foot high and 6-7 foot wide.

Thanks, Betty. I'm a bit confused, since I've read several places this is a compact rose bush, but individuals tell me it gets much bigger! Here's what High Country says in their catalog online:

Seems the Apothecary's Rose is all the rage these days. I just planted one, too. Got mine from Rogue Valley Roses, who say it should get 6 x 6, which is more in line with what Betty says. Mine is quite small now. I ordered a one gallon, but they said they weren't ready. I went with a "band" instead of waiting. I saw it in the herb garden at our local Master Gardener demonstration garden. I'm in the process of turning the bed on the East side of our house (by the kitchen) into a culinary herb garden and getting rid of (or moving) the pedestrian foundation plants that the landscapers put in.

Betty, did you train yours to a trellis, or let it sprawl? Where mine is, I am tempted to try a little espalier.

Jeffinsgf, when I looked at the RVR web site, it says 2.5 feet in height. Am I missing something?

http://www.roguevalleyroses.com/product_info.php?products_id=7

KaperC,

You're right. That stumps me a bit. This page from the Rose magazine: http://www.rosemagazine.com/articles04/medicinal/ says 5 feet. I looked at so many pages about it when I started looking that they ran together. I guess the conflicting information will all be sorted out for both of us in a couple years!

Yes, that's the conclusion I came to! Guess it might depend on location, too. Thanks for the great link.

Jeff, I let my apothecary rose sprawl. So, if I "stood" it up, it would be 5 foot tall. Allowed to sprawl, it is only 3 foot or so. I guess you could prune it back to whatever size you want to keep it, but I like to let mine do what it wants to do. I've had this one for 5-6 years and we live in zone 5.