Cottage Garden Update!

So here we are in July, and my "bit of earth" has gone crazy! I should have taken pictures of it a little earlier when things were still small enough to stand upright, but better late than never.

I planted some interesting new things this year. Most notably borage, an herb that has grown to gigantic proportions (about four feet high now). I made borage lemonade - which was delicious and refreshing - and I hear that you can eat the prickly leaves like a vegetable. I adore the flowers, they are so unique, exotic, and scream their Creator's genius.  

Here's another new one for me: love-in-a-mist. I read about this and borage in an awesome little book called Creating a Cottage Garden in North America by Stephen Westcott-Gratton. It's another exotic looking flower that was popular in 16th century gardens, and complements my lavender nicely. 

I planted four o'clocks last year; they self-seeded and have officially taken over! I left a few bare patches of my garden, intending to fill them with a variety of store-bought seedlings, but these pesky rascals said otherwise. They color the place up admirably though, and are so thick and flourishing that I've given them mercy and let them stay.

Another plant that has gone out of control - blazing stars. They have grown so tall that I had to stake them to get the long purple stalks from blocking the pathway! The bees absolutely love them (did I mention that they are also wild about borage?) so whenever I go out to my garden I am surrounded by swarms of fuzzy friends.

And then there are the calendulas, another remnant from last year. They were terribly wimpy the first time they grew - limp and smelly and late-blooming - but after sitting there over the winter they have revolutionized into clumps of perky yellow sunshine.

Hope you enjoyed this update. Feel free to leave suggestions as to future posting topics, I could always use some inspiration!

Tata for now,

Abby