Flowers & Herbs...

...okay, mostly herbs. 

I've wanted to grow herbs for a while now.  Living in the city, never on the first floor, I knew a vegetable garden was out and that I'd have to wait years before having a garden full of perennials.  Sigh.  But herbs!  Herbs I could do.  

When we went to North Carolina, we brought back a bunch of plants.  Like, an entire car full.  It was nuts.  We had about twenty pots.  I planted the herbs in ceramic pots and the rest of the plants went into plastic.  

And now a third of them are dead. 

The first blow was being crammed in a car for fifteen long hours.  When I unloaded them I could tell there were a few that probably wouldn't survive.  Sad.  

To make matters worse, some of the poor souls (yes, I know I'm talking about plants as though they're people) were planted in containers that lacked drainage.  No holes in the bottom.  Ordinarily, this is okay.  I put a bunch of gravel at the bottom of those pots so that if there was an excess of water, it would just surround the rocks.  But as fate would have it, the skies opened up for forty days and nights.  And by forty days and nights I actually mean about five days.  Still, that was enough to do the job.  Way too much water accumulated in the pots and those plants died.  There are two that are still alive, but they're pretty much at their journeys' end.  I tried to save them, but I could not.  

Poor bebes. 

The one labeled "completely dead" was MY FAVORITE.  (Not all time favorite, but favorite among the plants we have.)  Mexican Heather.  I love me a shrub-looking plant.  But what really does it is the dainty flowers.  Oh the flowers.  They're in a better place now.  Usually Mexican Heather's leaves are a vibrant green.  Not a baby bella mushroom color, as displayed in that picture. 

In the "almost dead" category, we've got two plants.  I don't remember their names.  One is a vine-like plant and the other was some sort of annual that was tall with just a few flowers.  The great flood killed the annual.  I'm considering transplanting the vine-ish one into a mason jar and keeping it inside.  

"Not yet dead" is a type of fuschia.  Of course you can't tell from the picture, but the texture of her leaves tells me that she's fighting for her life.  Her container still has so much water in it.  I haven't watered it in two weeks.  I'm hoping that since she isn't gone yet, she might just make it.  If there's a drought or something.  

You might be asking yourself, "Why doesn't she just replant them?"  And the answer is 1. Lazy.  2. No more planters and no extra money in the budget for planters.  And 3. No potting soil and no yard from which to steal dirt.  Boo.  

But!  Evil doesn't win!  The coleus.  Sweet, sweet coleus.  Apparently nothing can kill coleus.  This bodes well with me.  Though there is another small coleus that fell victim to the squirrels.  More on that later.  It took me a while to really appreciate coleus.  At first I was very, "It's just a bunch of leaves."  

But then you throw thirty plants in a car and a lot of them die but you still have pink! from the coleus.  And then you humbly admit to the interwebs that you were wrong and that, hey, maybe leaves can be nice.  

I really love coleus now.  And there are so many varieties.  I mean, there are three in that pot alone.  Wonderful plant-species of wonder. 

We've also got some hanging fuschia (swoon), fuschia varieties in white and green, petunias (am I the only one who hates petunias?  They're undeniably pretty but they are so. sticky.  Ugh.  Sensory issues.), marigolds, littler Mexican Heather, spider grassy thingys whose name now escapes me, and a small tree.  But I'm not a responsible blogger and so I didn't get pictures of them.  Don't be too upset, none of them are spectacularly beautiful right now.  Water + squirrels = death to all plants. 

But now, the edibles/useful things.  Again, I was adamant about growing herbs.  And so I gots me some herbs.  Like, nearly twenty different kinds.  I also brought home a hanging basket of tomatoes.  I was so excited about them!  I love tomatoes.  And for a few days, I was able to go pick myself some tomatoes every morning.  But then, the squirrels.  The damn city squirrels.  They ate them ALL.  They destroyed the whole thing.  Eventually, I surrendered.  And now my precious tomato plant is a horrid looking thing.  It looks like the kind of plant one would find growing in Hell.  

Smug bastard.  

So that was the sad ending to my tomato dreams. 

Again, you may ask why there was nothing around it.  It just happened so fast.  One day I had a terrific plant and the next day the little tyrants destroyed most of it.  I considered going out to the store and buying something to put around it, but I didn't know what would work, since it's in a stand and I obviously couldn't stake anything into the ground.  Also, budgets.  

You may also be wondering why Satan's plant is still there.  It is quite the eyesore.  Honestly, I feel bad throwing it out because I figure there are still some (very few) tomatoes on it and the squirrels still come and eat it and I don't want to be the human being responsible for starving city squirrels.  If it was an opossum we'd have a different story.  No, just kidding.  Shouldn't starve anyone.  

Somehow, most of the herbs escaped the squirrels' invasion unscathed. Of course, there are some that the little buggers got to.  They aren't dead, but they aren't flourishing, either.  

***Woah sudden overwhelming urge to go read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, this is so weird and random, but I shall fight the temptation***

So yes.  Herbs. 

Not pictured: Lemon Basil, Sweet Basil, Sweet Herb, and Majoram.

These are thriving.  I know the basil looks like it's starving, and that's because I took these photos prior to watering.  Rookie mistake.  The ones that aren't pictured are the ones that are less-than-lovely.  I figure I already posted a picture of dead plants, I don't need to post anymore.  Rubs it in too much.  Damn rain.  And squirrels.  I'm so defeated. 

I've been using the basil and parsley in everything.  I don't use the others as much since I basically don't know how to cook anything.  But I'm learning and googling recipes and other uses for the herbs that are fairly new to me.  I did make some tea from the chocolate mint leaves today.  It was a little strong.  I'm used to straight up regular Lipton tea.  All things with time, I suppose.  Or should I say all things with thyme?  ;) 

Check it: 

Soooo out of my comfort zone.  

That's it!  Those are all of the plants.  Here's hoping some of them make it through August.  Fingers crossed. 

__
Charlotte