celaeno

a real frost is coming tonight and i'm harvesting my tender herbs today. my white sage and rosemary are planted in the warmest and most sheltered spot i have, and after a serious haircut and some leaf mulch i can only give them my blessing that they might survive our turbulent zone 5 high plains winter.

this is the first year i've grown white sage (Salvia apiana) and harvesting it has been an experience. maybe you've seen or smelled dried bundles but there's nothing like the fresh stuff. only a few other plants that i've grown can come close to the resinous, balsamic scent that this exudes, that sticks to my hands and brings about something like euphoria. maybe fresh clary sage can compete, and rosemary too. after clipping and sorting and tying up all the bundles i am riding very high.

i saved a few sprigs in water to pot up just in case the outside mother plant doesn't survive. i don't even use white sage much myself, usually preferring our wild local Artemisias, but the bundles make nice gifts and if i can grow it outside my door it seems like a good friend to have. my hands and arms still smell like it.

a large quantity of yarrow (as much as i could cram into my old timber cruiser bag) for dyeing some linen i have stashed away, for a project i've been planning at least 2 years now. last year there was a big fire and i couldn't get out to collect anything. it is one of my favorite plants and will make a nice soft green dye if mordanted with alum and copper.

in the same area was plenty of greenthread, flush with the wet year, and it's been so long since i've had greenthread tea around the house i couldn't resist harvesting a grip to dry. they are tied into bundles that are the perfect size for a strong pot of tea.

look, i just got back from being At Work for 14 days straight. i ain't gonna catch up on whatever is happening on the internet. i want to think about gardening.

the more i clean up the yard (late this year but whatever; see prev. about Work) the more i noticed some plants that died off over the winter. hardy little guys that were a couple years old even! perennial grasses! and also those hydrangeas that were never going to make it in the first place. the oregano miraculously survived though??? this past winter was one of those intensely, bitterly cold ones we get maybe every ten years, followed by months of almost no precipitation. i forgive them for dying but now i have to spend money to replace them (so the drip irrigation doesn't go to waste. also i liked my native flowers and grasses, dammit).

i'm also using the opportunity to plant some of The Good Shit (herbs and fruits) that the nursery has sometimes. i did not buy the elecampane or motherwort even though i find them compelling (not sure where they'd live yet). i got a theoretically cold-hardy rosemary and a pennyroyal i'm putting in the southern boxes that kept the oregano alive. i got another delphinium and monkshood for my mini collection. a baby bay laurel tree and an ornamental tobacco and a replacement nettle and a MADDER that i'm gonzo to dye some fabric with in, uh, three years.

the peonies are still going, to my joy. the raspberries are already setting fruit. first sweetgrass harvest soon. i used the bountiful rhubarb (may she live forever, rhubarb haters dni) and Pomona pectin to make some of the best strawberry-rhubarb jam i've ever had. even such a little garden is worth it, worth it, worth everything.