Cottage Herb Garden in July

Take a stroll through the herb garden with me and enjoy the abundance of color and foliage. The garden"to-do" list grows longer everyday along with
the zinnias and phlox. The bronze fennel and lovage stalks are reaching and providing shade for the heliotrope and petunias on the garden floor. The

yarrow has bloomed and been harvested so it's green, stiff branches are beginning to wither but the pineapple sage and agastache are ready to take their rightful places in these garden beds. The "Betty's Blue" and "Lady" lavender plants in these beds have also been harvested but, I think that I'll leave them alone next year and enjoy their color well into the summer. After all, there is enough lavender around here already that has to be cut and gathered for the fall fairs starting in September. Lavender blooms from a few plants won't be missed.

Rue, horse raddish, nastutiums, tarragon and rosemary grow lusher each day as we go deeper into July while the delphiniums and oriental poppies fade away. Pentas, floss flower (ageratum housetonium) and marigolds provide bursts of color under tall "Hummingbird" and "Black and Blue" sage. Even the guara is providing new flower blossoms each day--it likes heat which this July is just now beginning to offer daily. Have I mentioned that there is also lemon verbena and scented geranium as well as miniature roses packed into these cottage beds along with santolina, curry plant, margoram, oregeno and carnations, too? All eagerly contributing to the fragrance and color this beds exude. It's amazing what you can pack into a small space and every year they come back to claim their own piece of real estate here.

The deer are visiting this garden nightly and having their pick of delectible blooms. I can hardly blame them but it's time to get the liquid deer fence out and stop their foraging and "salad habits." They don't touch the lettuce in the salad beds around the corner of the house, yet they seem to have a discerning eye for colorful things in the dead of night. The rabbits are a bit more cautious this year in the cottage herb garden, having caught the scent of Tucker who sniffs around daily trying in vein to catch one of the chipmonks who also get their "fair share" of garden food.

This garden is just coming into it's own for the summer. I'll think about the weeding, watering, dead-heading and so on tommorrow and it's too pretty a day to start taking note of what needs to be done in August. Instead, I'll savor this moment spent here in this garden and just enjoy!