Herbs & Such

Last night I had the opportunity to rake the leaves out of several gardens here and was surprised at what I discovered in my herb garden.  Last year, I planted some perennial sage and oregano.  Here's how they look after surviving a harsh MN winter:

Oregano

 

 

 

 

 

Sage

 

These were new plantings last year and I didn't expect to see them right away this spring.  I knew something was up when I was raking away and smelled the oregano in the air.  Mmm... what a smell!

I also discovered some onions that overwintered.  I got these for free at a local greenhouse last summer.  They had planted the seeds rather late and the onion plants were just teeny-tiny last year.  So I planted them last year and they barely grew.  I wonder what they'll do this year.

Onions and some renegade strawberry runners from the plants "next door"

And finally, some spring bulbs are just starting to show up.  Last fall I planted scilla, muscari, and snowdrops, and I haven't seen any signs of them, but the daffodils are starting to grow as you can see in the picture. 

I planted some tulips when we first moved in four years ago and they just never did very well, so I haven't bothered planting any more even though tulips are my favorite spring bulb flower.  I'm not sure if I'll try again this fall, I'm feeling more adventurous and maybe if I purchase some good bulbs from a good supplier (John Scheepers?) then I'll have better luck.  I just don't know of a lot of people with luck with tulips in this area.  We'll see - there's a full year of gardening ahead and I'm starting to get excited!