The Joy of Herbs

Santolina in June, © Barbara Radisavljevic

I love growing herbs in my garden. They feed the bees in winter when almost nothing else is blooming. In spring and summer they add color to my flower beds. In fall their dry flower stems add interesting shapes and textures. Here are some of my favorites. I took these photos at different times of the year. The santolina above adds a lovely gold to my flower beds.

Sages

I grow these sages mostly for their interesting foliage, though the clary sage does bloom in the summer, producing large flower spikes. 

I took the photo above in mid-October. On the left, is tricolor sage. To its right, clary sage. Below is some clary sage in bloom in June. It's surrounded by fading irises and the chard is reaching behind it as its seeds ripen and prepare to disperse.

Clary Sage in Bloom in June, © Barbara Radisavljevic

Wild Watermelon sage adds a bit more color to the garden than some of the other sages.

Wild Watermelon Sage in April, © Barbara Radisavljevic

Garden View of Wild Watermelon Sage in April

The black sage below has finished blooming. It's dry flower spikes are still striking.

Dry Black Sage, © Barbara Radisavljevic

Oregano

By October, my favorite herb, oregano, is almost through blooming, but you can still see plenty of its white flowers. This is the herb I use the most. I dry some every year. For kitchen use I pick it before before the buds form. but I always leave some to bloom. 

Oregano in Bloom, October, © Barbara Radisavljevic

Hyssop

Below the hyssop has almost stopped blooming, but you can still see a few purple flowers. At this time of year, October, most of the interest comes from the dry flower spikes that hold the seeds. Most of the seeds have dispersed by now. 

Hyssop in October, © Barbara Radisavljevic

The photo below was taken in mid-August and gives you a better look at the blooms and how they contrast with the dry spikes. 

Hyssop in Mid-August, © Barbara Radisavljevic

Rosemary

Rosemary is another of my favorite plants. It provides fragrant branches for winter decorating, and it usually blooms in winter and helps the bees. It's also very easy to root a twig of it in water. I have four large rosemary plants and I rooted all of them from slips from a plant in the backyard. 

Rosemary in December, © Barbara Radisavljevic

Happy Bee Enjoying Rosemary in March, © Barbara Radisavljevic

See some of my other photos of herbs from my garden on these Zazzle products.

 Seven-Spotted Ladybug on Borage Note Card Friendship card: Puzzle: Bee on French Lavender Jigsaw Puzzle Blank Card: Lavender with Santolina Lavender Uses, Otherwise Blank card:

First Daffodil Brightens my January Garden

My First Daffodil of 2018

Normally my bright January colors in the garden come from calendula, but this year frost killed them all. That's why I'm so glad this daffodil decided to show up and brighten my garden a bit.

First Daffodil Brightens my January Garden

As you can see, the recent rain brought the snails out, and they've got a head start on me. I was slow getting the bait out for them because I'm only now almost over the flu that had me down since mid-December. I need to get that snail bait out before they eat everything I've got.  This is what I normally use and it works well for me  when I spread it in my flowers when the ground is wet. If I'd done it right after the rain, those holes wouldn't be in my leaves now.

My Garden Is Mostly Green and Light Purple Now

The light purple flowers in bloom are rosemary, scabiosa (Pincushion Flower), and borage. Of course, two of those are herbs.

Rosemary in January

Scabiosa in January with Gazania Leaves in Background

Borage Flowers in January

I don't usually see borage in bloom this early, but it reseeded last year. I'm afraid my plants have been fending for themselves since last year because I haven't had time or strength to do much for them. They have helped immensely by their reseeding. I'm hoping I'll be seeing new kale and chard plants soon. Meanwhile, I'm seeing lots of new clary sage and mullein plants. That's a reseeded mullein, one of many, in that pot above the borage in the photo above. It will be months before it blooms.

You can see below left how the mullein plant will look when it does bloom. This plant grew about six feet tall and this praying mantis pair found a home on it.

Praying Mantis Pair on Mullein Plant CardBorage-and-Calendula, Beautiful Borage Card

The card on the above right shows how beautiful the borage can be when it keeps its head up and is next to an orange or yellow plant like the calendula in the photo.

The image on the card below comes from my Templeton garden that has no snails because it rarely gets irrigation.

Daffodil: You Brighten My Life Card

What I'm wondering now is where all those other daffodils I planted along with this the one now blooming are. This afternoon I cleared away some of the Lamb's Ears that might be obstructing them so the light can get to them, but maybe they are just taking more time than this one. I do hope more will come up and bloom by February. That's when I usually see them.

Are you growing daffodils this year? Are any of your normal January or February plants blooming earlier or later than usual this year?

**

Small Visitors to my Garden in Early May

Visiting Insects in May

Although we schedule our visits on a calendar, it's not so neat in the insect world. They appear by season rather than by date. So although I can say that these insects were all garden visitors during the first two weeks of May, some had been hanging around since April, and some, like the bees,  visit me during the entire year. Let's look at them. My most welcome guests this month have been the ladybugs, who flew in to clean up my aphid problem.

Ladybugs Busy Mating and Eating Aphids, © B. Radisavljevic

They have been a great help to me. In the photo above you can see the one on top eating one of the aphids. The two on the bottom of the flower are mating. You can see how the unwelcome aphids are sucking the life out of the calendula plants. In the middle of April I had four heavily infested calendula flowers and one infested wormwood plant. It took the ladybug air force a month to finish the job, but as of yesterday there are no more aphids and most of the ladybugs have moved on. Below is another calendula plant they cleaned up. Do you see all the ladybugs visible on just this one plant? I counted nine.  How many can you count?

Ladybird Aphid Eating Crew on Calendula Plant, © B. Radisavljevic

There are still a few ladybugs lurking in the rosemary and on other plants. I found the one below in the crotch of this clary sage plant. I'm hoping it's not about to be a meal for the spider that lives there. We will see it later.

Ladybird Hiding on Clary Sage Plant, © B. Radisavljevic

 

Another insect currently in my garden is the spittlebug. Spittlebugs are small insects who cover their motionless nymphs, who hang out on the foliage of perennials, shrubs, annuals, and herbs, with this unsightly foam as they suck juices from the stems. According to Sunset, they do little damage and leave after about three weeks. If they really bother you, you can wash the foam off with a hose. They do make the plant look a bit ugly. Here they are "decorating" my rosemary.

Spittlebugs on Rosemary, © B. Radisavljevic

The last insect, the one who visits almost every day, is the hard-working bee. Below you see it on fruity teucrium, a ground cover, which is blooming now. The bees love it. I couldn't fit them all into this one photo, and they kept flitting off to new blossoms while I was focusing.

Bees on Fruity Teucrium, © B. Radisavljevic

Before we leave the insects, here's one more photo of a bee. This one is working on a lamb's ears flower. The lamb's ears started to bloom just a few days ago. This photo is just the right size to pin if you'd like to share it.

Busy Bee on Lamb's Ears, © B. Radisavljevic

The Inconspicuous Crab Spider in Early May

This spider has visited many of my plants. I have seen her (and what I assume is her mate) on the calendula plants with the ladybugs and aphids, on the juniper bushes, and on the rosemary.  It is very hard to see on this rosemary plant, even when I blow it up. It's not a large spider to start with, and it can take on the coloring of the plant it's on to blend in. Can you see it in the lower right corner below? I had to get into a very awkward position to get this photo at all.

Inconspicuous Crab Spider in Rosemary, © B. Radisavljevic

One of these spiders seems to be living on my clary sage. It's much easier to see and photograph there. It usually scrunches up like this while waiting for prey to appear. I do have a video of two of these spiders interacting on a calendula plant, and once they start moving, they are fast. I think one may have been chasing the other. The one below is a female. The male is smaller. I saw a male on this plant a couple of days earlier. I don't see it now. I wonder if the female had him for dinner. To see how this spider mates, check the last photo on this blog post.

Inconspicuous Crab Spider on Clary Sage Leaf, © B. Radisavljevic

 Spiders & Other Arachnids
I love being able to understand which insects and spiders are visiting me. Here are some books which have been a great help in identifying and understanding them. The two books on the bottom right will appeal to children and are small enough to carry into the backyard for field use. The books on the bottom left have a format designed for teens and adults. All are illustrated and will help you identify garden visitors with six or eight legs. The short video at left above shows you some common spiders in action up close. Prime members can watch it for free. Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

& 

 A Field Guide to Insects: America North of Mexico National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders (National Audubon Society Field Guides (Paperback)) Fandex Family Field Guides: Bugs Peterson First Guide to Insects of North America

& 

Related articles

• Insects in My Neighborhood in April
• Plant Pests and their Predators: Aphids and Ladybugs
• Nature notes: bees born with good vibrations
• Ladybugs Macro Photography by Tomasz Skoczen
• Top 10 Bizarre Insect Predators
• Sages Add Color and Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
• Happy Bees Enjoying March Flowers
• I Saw My First Butterfly This Year Today
• In photos: Busy summertime bees - part 1