I spent a large part of my day renovating a small portion of the NE wing of the herb garden. I’ve had a section of lamb’s ears in this part of the garden for years. I don’t know if lamb’s ears can strictly be considered an herb or not, but I like the pale gray-green color contrasting the darker leaves of the thyme. Lamb’s ears has a way of escaping and moving to other parts of the garden. It seems to really like the chat walkway, and I like how it looks there. I probably need to cut back some of the growth in the walk, but today I focused on the lamb’s ears in the bed.
Unfortunately, it has become infested with crab grass. I started work, and realized that the soil was so dry that I was never going to get all of the roots. Dear Husband said, “Either you water, or you wait.” He’s really good at cutting to the chase. I didn’t want to wait, so I hooked up the hose. I watered that section of the bed, and while it percolated through the soil, DH and I dropped a car off to be worked on tomorrow.
When I returned, the soil was ready! I used a shovel and lifted huge chunks of the garden out onto black plastic trays from the nursery. When I had grass and plants, and dirt removed, I ran my hands through what was left, to be sure that I wasn’t leaving a nest of roots behind. Then, I separated the grass from the soil, put the soil back, and replanted the lamb’s ears.
There are several areas in the thyme to the right of that area that will need to be replanted. I’m going to transplant one section later this week, and may find a few more crab grass roots to remove.
I think I may put lemon-scented geraniums in that spot, or perhaps lemon verbena. A good part of that arm of the herb garden is devoted to lemon scented plants.

The really healthy plant at the bottom of the herb bed is a perennial salvia. Just past it, in a terra cotta furnace flue, is Scottish spearmint. There are two small lavenders. (If they don’t do well this summer, they’ll be transplanted.) There’s a miniature rose just past that, in a ring of hardware cloth. I uncovered the rose today and found very tender growth on it. I protected it from the sun (and will have to continue to protect it for a while till it hardens up), and left the ring to protect it from hungry bunnies. The lamb’s ears are just past the rose. You can see the clematis at the arbor, just north of the bed.
I know, I know…..too much detail. I had a wonderful time in the garden. I quit before I was overwhelmed. I left enough time to clean things up and return my tools to the garage. Dear Husband cooked dinner tonight, so I got to come in and loaf. It was a fabulous day, and I’m SO pleased to have gotten a start on the gardens!

The past few years my clematis has been suffering. It’s a wonderful jackmanii that is covered with deep purple blooms in the spring. Its leaves were loosing their dark glossy green color. I did some research on-line and decided that it needed chelated iron. I found a source and gave it a dose and the leaves looked better the following year.
We repeated that scenario, but this time the plant began to look really sickly. I read further and found that there was something contagious going on. I decided that I was going to give it one more shot before planting something else in that spot. I cut the canes to the ground and disposed of them. I pretty much figured that would kill the plant off, but I was very surprised to see it growing this spring.
I started my day in the gardens by creating guidelines for the clematis, to help it up and over the arbor. I used hemp twine, anchored on either side of the plant, and wrapped around one of the upper horizontal bars. I used one more length of twine to keep the plant upright, until it grabs onto the vertical lines on its own.

I have high hopes for this plant. If it makes it, I’ll post a picture when it blooms.

At long last, I’ve had the chance to spend my weekend in the gardens. It got off to a slow start on Saturday. Dear Husband rebuild the sieve that fits over the wheelbarrow so that I could empty the sidewalk containers and sieve the soil. In some of the largest pots I use a layer of plastic shipping peanuts to lighten the load, so I need to catch the plastic as I break up the soil and remove spent plants.
The sieving and refilling of the pots took longer than I had anticipated. I moved the pots onto the sidewalk near the front door and Elegante Mother played with the collection of plants that we bought earlier in the week, working out combinations which pleased her. Rather than planting all the pots in an identical range of color, each pot has it’s own personality. I know that’s unusual, but it’s what makes EM happy.
I think we filled seven pots with annuals. Elegante Mother was playing with plants the way she might sweep watercolor over paper. This container is a wrought iron basket lined with coir.

Supertunia Priscilla (lavender), Colorburst Melon Calibrachoa, “Peter’s Wonder” Coleus,
“Lemon Symphony” Osteospermum hybrid, Madeira Violet Argyranthemum. and
Red Snapdragons.

“Gay’s Delight” Coleus (Lime green with red-violet stems), “Happy Violet” Exotic Geranium, Dracaena marginata “magenta,” and “Merlin’s Magic” Coleus fill a gray-green container.
Elegante Mother used the same coleus in this pot, with a different, lighter look:

“Gay’s Delight” Coleus, “Colorburst Chocolate” Calibrachoa (deep rose), “Needlepoint” Coleus (cut leaf with lime green, cream and scarlet), Ipomoea “Blackie,” (dark sweet potato vine) and
“Snowstorm White” Bacopa.
And one more that I like for it’s simplicity, and for the interesting pot:

I think I used Bacopa, with a dark red petunia, and a lighter coleus. I can probably look up the plant names if you need them.
So, the containers have been planted for the season. I have a couple more pots that are basically research. I’ve planted two small poinsettias that have carried over from Christmas, and another pot that has overgrown calla lily greens. I don’t know if they will make it, but it was worth a try.
Dirt. I actually had dirt under my fingernails! (goofy grin).