The Sugar Hollow Plant List

Echinacea (also known as coneflower) attracts butterflies and in late fall, gold finches.

Taking stock in the garden at season's end! I got 50 more daffodil bulbs planted last weekend and could probably plant 50 bulbs every season for the next 20 years and still not make a dent in the landscape. {I would love our land to be a sea of yellow every late February.}

What is on your wish list? What do you recommend?

HONEYBEE, BIRD AND BUTTERFLY ATTRACTORS

Catnip, white and lavender varieties
Butterfly Bush
Liatris
Glossy Abelia
Sunflowers
Echinacea
Bee Balm
Zinnias
Caryopteris ‘Blue Beard’
Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’
Salvia ‘May Night’
Russian Sage
Black-Eyed Susans
Shasta Daisies
Goldenrod (wild)
Yarrow (wild)
Thistle (wild)
Violets (wild)
Ironweed (wild)

BENEFICIAL INSECT ATTRACTORS

Love-in-a-Mist (self-seeding patch)
Daffodils, common and several other fragrant varieties
Iris, common and a variety that smells like grape Pez

NATIVES

Fringe Tree
Eastern Red Bud
Virginia Sweet Spire
Virginia Bluebells
May Apples
Wild Phlox
Trillium

HERBS

Plantain
Lavender (also good for honeybees)
Lemon Balm (also good for honeybees)
Sage
Rosemary (also good for honeybees)
German Chamomile
Thyme
Oregano (also good for honeybees)
Dill
Garlic
Mint, Common
Mint, Apple

ORNAMENTALS

Lilac, Common
Hydrangea ‘Endless Wonder’
A variety of small, ephemeral bulbs
Hollies, ‘China Boy’ and ‘China Girl’ varieties
Liriope
Dayliles, native, 'Pandora’s Box', 'Wineberry Candy', 'Jolyene' and several other varieities
Grape Hyacinths
Sugar Maple
Willow Oak
Eastern Red Cedars
Japanese Maples (3)
Azalea
Bridal Wreath
Rose, Climbing Antique 'Jeanne LaJoie'
Roses, Knock Outs
Coreopsis, Rose
Plumbago
Hollyhock, Common (deer fodder right now, but I hold out hope)
Veronica Speedwell
Tulips, Rembrandt and basic red variety

PERENNIAL FOOD PRODUCERS

Fig 'Chicago Hardy'
Juneberry (seriously chomped down by deer, but still living)
Black raspberry
Blackberries
Strawberries (in containers, for now)
Wild persimmons
Asparagus 'Mary Washington'
Elderberry
Rhubarb

REMAINING WISH LIST and FINAL THOUGHTS

A weeping mulberry shrub.
'Korean Spice' viburnums for along the front path.
A peony (or two).
More irises.
More Black-Eyed Susans along the ridge above the daylilies.
More compost under the walnut to help plants thrive?
More varieties of daylily for under the walnut.
A better okra crop.
Plant cucumbers for pickling.
Grow squash for the *blossoms,* too.
Find a spot for the elderberry that will let it thrive.
More native phlox.
Plant calendula – for botanical beauty potions.
Don’t plant green beans. (I just don’t love them enough to can and freeze.)

Herbalism with a Rock Star Herbalist

I am so lucky to have some awesome neighbors. One of whom is S, age 7, and she knows her herbs. As in, I have a ton to learn from her.

She came over last weekend for a few hours. We harvested things from my garden - including lavender, chamomile, sage, lemon balm, yarrow, echinacea, sassafras, rose petals, plantain leaves and mint. She brought over her essential oils and ingredients to make soap.

We had three hours of whirling, unbridled time making things. Things like an herbal foot soak, sassafras and chamomile/lavender soaps, aromatherapy sprays, a yarrow tincture, liquid soaps, bath bags and boo-boo balm. All of the recipes and ideas, except the boo-boo balm, came from S.

Spilling over with infectious enthusiasm, some of my favorite quotes from S - "I feel like a queen when I do this!" and "Sometimes, this is *all* I can think about!"

I know. I know!!

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I have three recipes to share from our morning together:

Herbal bath bags. (These smell insanely wonderful - they were S's idea.)

Calming Bath Bag (Place all of the ingredients in cheese cloth bags. You are done.)

1/2 cup chamomile flowers
1/3 cup lavender buds
3 drops of lavender oil

Refreshing Bath Bag

1\3 cup mint leaves
1\7 cup lemon rind
1 drop lemongrass oil
2 drops tangerine oil

Boo-Boo Balm (From The Herb Quarterly.)

Pick 10 juicy plantain leaves.

Allow them to dry for a few days.

Place them in a glass jar with one cup of olive oil, with a (breathable) cheese cloth lid, for a week. Stir every day.

Remove leaves and put oil, with 1-2 oz. grated beeswax, into a saucepan. Wait until all is melted and place in clean, glass jars. Use on any skin irritations, cuts, bug bites, diaper rash, etc.

Harvesting Right Now

Garlic and lavender! And a little bit of dill and Red Russian Kale (I keep harvesting from this one plant and it keeps producing. Amazing.)

The okra, collards, green beans and tomatoes are coming in nicely.

The swiss chard and the beets are un-remarkable, but I am still curious to see how they will turn out.

Little Sugar Baby watermelons are sprouting on their vines and we have two (TWO!) fig-lettes on our fig tree.

I also have two HUGE squash/pumpkin volunteer plants - one in the very neglected part of the vegetable garden and one next to the compost pile.
(Time to start appreciating the unexpected and looking away from the disappointments. We won't talk further on the pumpkin starts that I actually killed.)

We also won't talk about the English shelling peas that I harvested, handed over to Willa and she exuberantly tossed and scattered (never to be seen again) around the meadow, to the wind and . . . to the dogs. While my back was turned. Um, yeah.

Making Stuff, Eating Stuff

Garlic scapes from our vegetable patch (top photo) - sauteed in a little butter with Red Russian Kale.

Sun tea, made with Barry's Irish Tea and lemon balm from the garden. Brewed for about four hours in the blazing Virginia sun. A satisfying way to harness solar energy during those heat advisory days!

Almond oil facial moisturizer with chamomile and roses (also from the garden). I covered the just-picked buds with sweet almond oil and a few capsules of vitamin E. Then, I covered the mason jar with muslin and will let it sit for a week or so, stirring every day.

A sweet friend, Sylvia (age 7/almost 8!), has been making us the most delicious botanical lotions. Willa and I have been fighting over the newest one - jasmine and coconut oil.

Not pictured - but my new go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies, from David Lebovitz.

I have been dreaming about lobster rolls lately and want to find this truck next time we are in NYC.

I Love My Early Spring Garden

I spend a lot of time out here starting in February and usually giving up in June - when it gets blisteringly hot and I leave the garden to fate. But these early months are the stuff - supremely satisfying in the smaller moments and small steps. Tucking away some lettuce starts, building a rustic trellis for the snap peas, harvesting herbs. Sixty degrees with a breeze and the sun on my back urges me along in my chores. Though truth be told, I don't need much urging these days.

What is growing right now :: Garlic, rhubarb, broccoli, thyme, snap peas, lettuces, borage, chives, oregano, sage, lemon balm, dill, rosemary and parsley.

What is not growing right now :: The evil, relentless, undermining weeds of the South!

Hither and Yon

Oh, spring in Charlottesville. Every time you show up, I am immediately transported back 20 years to when I first experienced you as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. From there-on-in I was unable to settle for a springtime experience that was any less than spectacular (that also started in mid-March!).

On the home front - bulbs are blossoming, garlic is sprouting, rhubarb is peeking up out of the ground and the herb bed is coming to life (oregano, lemon balm, sage). Lettuce and arugula are pushing up through the soil in pale greens in the cold frame. Snap peas are reaching for the sky.

Our sweet community garden is full (all spots taken!) - and it is a thrill to hear people working out there, having fun and getting ready to grow their own food.

While a nasty cold waylaid me from the garden, I took solace in reading - Two Gardeners: A Friendship in Letters and Ruth Stout's No-Work Garden Book and another Ruth - a foodie Ruth - Ruth Reichl. Nothing like a few wise women to keep you company when you are feeling sorry for yourself.

We drove up to Monterey (also known as Virginia's Little Switzerland) for their Maple Festival this past Sunday. The drive alone was so needed - winding through towns like Churchville, Headwaters and McDowell and through George Washington National Forest. I realized later that it was the first time since September that I had left our area (?!). Returning with maple donuts and local maple syrup in a leaf-shaped bottle extended the visit into our evening at home.

I'm counting down the days to Historic Garden Week in Virginia. There is also an event at Monticello - Meet the Gardeners (as in Peter Hatch and Peggy Cornett! Eeeeep!) that looks like fun.

Unrelated to gardening, but smile-inducing : My new vintage-looking orange peep toe shoes, fresh-made pasta from Mona Lisa Pasta and visits to Charlottesville from two Bens (the first visited this past Tuesday, the second will be here in April).

Let's hear it for spring!

Fun with Calendula :: A Salve and A Scrub

Calendula, calendula. Nature's answer for my fickle, fair skin. The herb garden is offering up a ton of these golden flowers as-of-late. So I am steeping them in olive oil to make the simple calendula salve. One mason jar for me and another for a friend.

I am going to make a little extra calendula oil to add to my homemade facial scrub. This recipe is The Stuff and has saved me the pretty penny that I used to drop on Kiehl's products. It really exfoliates, but the honey and the oil moisturize, too.

Here's the recipe:

Mix the following:

1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tblsp. calendula olive oil
1 tblsp. honey

Scrub gently into skin and leave on a few minutes. Rinse.

The Slower Side of Summer

Drying lavender.

Eating calendula biscuits - with Foster's Seven Pepper Jelly (not pictured, but you get the idea).

Sand and sun at Mint Springs. Picnics with friends.

A Sunday supper with Uncle Chris out on our back deck.

Making the most of our CSA and our gardens. Willa has taken a liking to snap peas. Lucky her! Weeks 2 and 3 of the CSA involved many, many salads; bok choy with toasted sesame oil, red pepper flakes and garlic (Thanks, Sarah!); spinach pesto; and Red Russian kale wilted in our favorite Jacques Pepin sausage-potato-onion packet from Fast Food My Way.

I'm trying out this recipe tonight - to use more lettuce and spring onions.

Remembering that some of the best moments are the ones that lack focus. And that summer is best experienced in as many girly skirts as possible.

(This one is from anthropologie a few years back.)

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All of my spring work in the front (newish) garden is paying off and getting ready to burst. Butterfly bushes, rose-y coreopsis, nasturtiums, bachelor buttons, daylilies and echinacea.
I need to find some vintage garden chairs so I can watch the show.

Happy Mother's Day (To, A-hem, Me)

Because I couldn't possibly expect my family to know that I wanted this, I went ahead and treated myself during a mid-day visit with Sarah to a local cooking shop.

An old-fashioned tea strainer. It works beautifully for my strong Irish Breakfast morning tea, and for an afternoon cup of chamomile. Chamomile from our garden. Which returned gangbusters this spring. Smelling of honey and sweetness.

I now feel like a real lady for the fifteen minutes I spend with my tea each day. Gardening-induced dirt under the fingernails aside . . .

The Small Stuff

Our gardens are producing on a small scale this year, but it seems to suit us. Salad greens for a salad most nights. A handful of radishes. Chives and one shiitake mushroom. And oregano that contributed to an outstanding Flounder Oreganata for Saturday supper. Transporting me back to New York and favorite Italian restaurants with each bite-ful.

I hope your hard work in your gardens is giving a little back to you this Mother's Day weekend!

DIY: Quick Dry Your Herbs

This technique is perfect for sage, oregano, thyme and rosemary. And so stinkin' easy.

Collect about a cup or two of fresh herbs. I dried oregano, rosemary and sage (pictured above).

Place the herbs between two paper towels and microwave for about 2 minutes. Check. Need a little more time? Do it in small, 30 second increments until the herbs are dry.

Let the herbs sit out a bit, on the paper towel. Then, grind and put in storage containers.

I happily ended up grinding them between my fingertips last night. You can also use a pepper grinder or can buy a grinder specifically for herbs. Do what ever suits you, your budget and your energy level!

Working with each herb during an October evening seemed so on time. They were just the scents I craved with winter coming on - oregano had me thinking about hearty tomato sauces, the rosemary brought on ideas of roast chickens and the sage was all about Thanksgiving and stuffings.

Libby - Was this helpful?

Much Ado in the Garden - Autumn 2008

Without the urgency of spring's pace, I have always loved the mellower tone of autumn in the garden. So much of my to-do list can be done gradually - over the next two months. And that suits me just fine these days.

1. Clean out the container garden. Compost plants-past-their-prime.
2. Move a compost container to the back porch - so running out in the winter to a far away compost bin is eliminated. As is the stink fest that results from neglected compost piling up in the kitchen.
3. Shred leaves for the compost bin. For leaf mold.
4. For the *new* front yard - plant that saucer magnolia (for Willa!) and the hedge line of glossy abelia.
5. Put plastic mulch down over raised beds - to prep them for spring planting.
6. Harvest and dry rosemary, sage and oregano from the herb garden.
7. Clean out gardening supplies and post give-aways to local friends.
8. Start forced hyacinth bulbs.
9. Plant bulbs in front beds and more naturalizing daffodils along the wood's edge.
10. Revisit my winter reading: The Herb Quarterly, plant and seed catalogs galore, Second Nature, Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Healing for Women.

*Bonus wish list item* - A cold frame. After asking me what I wanted for my birthday, I told Corey that I would really love a cold frame - so we could have greens all-winter-long. He paused, looked up and said, "How 'bout cash?" He is stretched thin these days. The cold frame can happen. Or not. There's always next year.

And, what is your favorite fall garden chore?

DIY: Herb Ice Cubes

With that first frost closing in on us, this is a quick and easy way to preserve your basil and/or other herbs.

1. Harvest and rinse your herbs.

2. Chop them up.

3. Fill up most of a clean ice cube tray with the chopped herbs.

4. Pour hot water over them (this should be water that has been boiled, first).

5. Freeze. Then, you can pop the ice cubes out and store in freezer bags. Make sure to label the bags.

I can't wait to surprise Corey - mid-winter - with a batch of my friend Nina's Killer Meat Sauce and have fresh-tasting basil on-hand. You can also freeze chervil, chives, cilantro, comfrey, dill, lovage, mint, parsley, savory, sweet fennel and thyme.

The Herb Garden

A cool, overcast, sleepy morning here in Sugar Hollow. I got out to the much-ignored herb garden for a bit of weeding. Working in an herb garden is always wonderfully multi-sensory. The scents of each herb as I brush against them; the different textures and colors; and the feel of the leaves . . .

My favorites (right now) are the varying shades of the Apple Blossom yarrow and the honey-scented chamomile flowers. And to play against those sweet-er herbs, the shrubby sage and pungent greenness of the Genovese basil. With the cicadas trilling for the morning's soundtrack and a happy Otis lolling about in the grass - it was the best way I could think of to start a weekend.

Happy Saturday, my friends . . .

From the Garden to the Apothecary

File this one under things I want, no, NEED, to do this summer! A one-day class on medicine making.

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With Charlottesville's Sacred Plant Traditions.

Join Kathleen Maier in her magical garden of medicinal plants and learn the basics of permaculture and how to turn your lawn into a beautiful garden of food and medicine. We will discuss harvest techniques and drying methods then take our harvest into the kitchen to preserve and transform our plants into sustainable medicine for ourselves, families and communities.Included will be how to make teas, tinctures and salves. Only $75.00 for the whole day and materials. 9:30 am - 4pm.

Visit the Sacred Plants Traditions website and download a registration form or call 434-295-3820. This is the only one day class Kathleen is offering this year.

Apple Blossom yarrow - from our herb garden . . .

Sow A Seed in June? Can You Dig It? Yes, You Can!

Last year, I wrote a little bit about herbs, vegetables and flowers that can still be started in June.

Thought it might be a nice day for a blog re-run. Visit the link above for details . . .

Have Baby, Will Garden

Sugar snap peas and lettuce.

Sage plants prove to be perennials in Virginia.

The rhubarb keeps on keepin' on. Much to my sweet tooth's delight.

Willa swinging in the garden.

After a Sugar Hollow Mama Gathering on Tuesday, my gardening mama friends encouraged me to get out there . . . and bring the baby swing. Eureka! Yes! Willa donned her little sun hat and snoozed in the fresh air, while I weeded and prepped the beds for more plantings.

Our lettuce patch is thriving - which has me flummoxed - as bunnies regularly tromp along the garden paths during the evenings (even under the watchful eye of Mr. Otis). Radishes are coming in. Sugar snap peas are climbing and the herb bed looks healthy. I planted our pole beans, blackberry lilies and hollyhock - all from seed. The weather is calling for more rain. I am happy to oblige.

This weekend . . . I'll be starting morning glories, hyacinth bean vine, cleome and sunflowers from seed. Fleshing out the herb garden with herbs from Milmont Greenhouses. Maybe getting some tomatoes in their bed. Puttering around the container garden. And testing out a rhubarb tart recipe.

Super Easy Herb Container Garden: Mints!

Chocolate mint iced tea. Steph's Meadow Tea. Mojitos. Mint juleps. All are within reach if you have a somewhat sunny spot and a container to host a mint plant or two. Mints will even come up year-after-year within a planter. With little to-do. And, when all is said and done, you'll be happier that you kept them in the container garden - as they can be very invasive within the regular garden patch.

I grow Kentucky Colonel mint (perfect for all cocktails), chocolate mint and apple mint. Plant them in a nice potting soil and throw some organic fertilizer their way every-so-often (think compost tea) if you are so inclined. They'll produce all summer long.

What could be better, on a hot, sultry eve, than to have friends over on your deck or porch - among your mint plants - while you serve up cocktails fresh from your container garden? Not much.

Is 2 p.m. too early to start drinking on a spring Friday afternoon?! Ack. I have to stay off the sauce for a while longer. I'll probably treat myself to an herbal iced tea instead. Willa will be the better for it.

The Spring Garden Takes Shape

Corey, Baby and I beat feet over to Staunton yesterday morning for a visit and a walk through their farmers' market. They had just what I needed these days - starter plants for the vegetable and herb garden. Then, I snuck out to the garden today - for a quick 15 minutes - and got all seven plants in their proper spots. And the first row of radishes sown.

Simpson Elite Lettuce
Another unknown lettuce variety
Swiss Chard
Thyme
Chives
Italian Curly Parsley
Apple Mint

Phew. And now? I nap.