Cool Weather Crops
A mixture of cutting lettuces and spinach form a small tapestry in the vegetable garden.  Garlic cloves planted in October have sprouted and add their green spikes to the flower beds.  Leeks planted in November have sprouted but not grown much.  Giant red mustard and corn salad have reseeded themselves from 1997 plants, but cilantro and parsley had to be replanted.  All are now being enjoyed in Ann Marie's kitchen.

Jack Frost Attack
The basil is long gone.  Hoja santa and pineapple sage were frozen to the ground but the pineapple sage is beginning to sprout.  The Ginger officinalis froze to the ground, but when dug yielded a basket full of roots to be given as gifts or preserved in brandy.  (Peel the ginger, cover with brandy and store in the refrigerator)

Spanish Lavender
Ann Marie is finally having success with a lavender.  Three Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas) were planted in March, 1997.  Plant One, placed in a location that was too shady, has now gone to that great sachet in the sky.  Plant Two, removed from that same shady site, now resides in a large terra cotta pot, surrounded by caraway thyme.  Plant Three is growing bigger and bigger in a large wooden planter at the Eastern edge of a cottonwood.  During the summer it was sun kissed in the morning, then shaded from afternoon scorchers.  The planter is well draining and rosemary, dittany of crete and scented geranium 'Snowflake' live happily with the Spanish lavender.  Lavandula stoechas is a gray leafed plant whose needle like foliage is nicely scented with typical lavender aroma.  The flower spikes are not what is typically  thought of as lavender.  The blooms are lined up on a dark, elongated central cone that is topped with two to four long, pink bracts waving at the top.  The Spanish lavender bloomed beautifully in 1997 and is expected to brighten 1998 in the same way.

Too Cold for Comfort
The glassed in porch is filled with plants that shiver when the thermometer drops.  On sunny days the porch is scented with the sweet perfume mixture of the scented geraniums.  The Jamaican tea hibiscus and licorice verbena are blooming away, the licorice verbena's flowers are four-petaled arrangements that are barely noticeable, but are charming in their daintiness.  Spicy Globe, Aussie Sweetie and Lime basil in pots provide Ann Marie with a little kitchen help, although the flavor is not nearly as good as that of plants grown in the garden in the summer.  Ann Marie has planted the seeds she collected from her Datura plants and her Black Prince Pepper and is anxiously awaiting for their first leaves to poke through the soil.  (A reminder to gardeners with children, all parts of Datura are toxic if ingested)