Fresh Herbs for Thanksgiving

Even though we've had night time temps in the lower 20s, and into the teens a time or two, the herbs have still been usable.  When I cut the sage, rosemary, parsley, and thyme for the Thanksgiving turkey, they were frozen.   I put them under the skin of the turkey breasts and thighs I roasted in the oven. 

I couldn't find my camera, so I took this photo with my camera phone.

We didn't have many leftovers, so Larry went out today and got a turkey to roast.  I went out and got more herbs, and took this photo with my camera, which I had found.  Everything was the same, except the thyme was from a different plant.

I am planning on doing a post on my herb garden through the seasons when I get a chance.  We had a fun Thanksgiving, and I hope you did, too.

There are Still Some Things to Look at

Our temps did not get into the upper 40s like they were supposed to the last couple of days.  It was quite cloudy today.  I ventured out to take a photo of my brave pass-along iris that has opened its bloom, and ended up taking photos of the whole curb area.

I started on the west side facing north, went east, and then back around the area from the other side.  It was about 38 degrees when I took these photos.

These petunias, which have been blooming ever since I planted them, but may soon be giving up.

My little $5.00 no name rose bloomed most of the summer, too, and now has some pretty little hips.

The clump of Jupiter's beard I took from the larger one last fall took a long time to recover from being moved last year, but did pretty well this year.  It didn't have as many blooms as the parent plant, but has a new one right now.

I just took a photo of this bachelor button a few days ago, because they usually go dormant in August, and I was excited to see it still blooming.  Now, it's finished.

There is a lighter blooming sedum on the left of the photo, next to the autumn joy in the center.

Most of the goldenrods are finished blooming, but there are a few blooms still making finding their way out in the cold.

Here's a spent bloom from the same plant.

I haven't been drying the gomphrena flowers as often as I used to.  I love how they stay nice looking on the plants for so long, even after the stems don't look so good.  I think the strappy leaves on the lower left are grape hyacinths.

The plants close to the curb are perennial geraniums.  The lavender plants just finished a late flush of blooms.

Continuing to the east:

I do plan on moving the New England asters to another spot next year.  I'm thinking I'd like to find some pink muhly grass or a more upright kind to put in the spots next to the sidewalk.

The seed heads are kind of cool.

There are still a few blooms, too.  I love this color of blue!

Do you remember what I first went out to take photos of?    It's in this photo.

The iris looks out of place with all that brown.

I think the goldenrod in front of the lavender in this photo may be 'Little Lemon'.  It is smaller than the other goldenrods I have.

It still has some blooms, too.

The arums have leafed out.  (Added 11/23- Here's a link to the post I did on arums last year.  They have peculiar flowers, seed heads, and growth habits.)

This is one of the sedums I stuck a stem of in the dirt this spring.  I was surprise it bloomed this year already.

The salvias are still pretty, even though they are pretty much finished for the season.

Now, we're facing west.

The cold temps killed the lantana in the basket.  There is a clump in a raised bed at church that is protected enough that it's loaded with blooms.

I'm enjoying the foliage of the perennial geraniums.

I like the form of 'Fireworks' goldenrod and the different kinds of liatris, even when they are finished blooming.

Sea hollies are pretty cool looking brown, too.

Facing south, my little pretty is in another photo:

This is facing south and back to the west.

I was thinking about cutting the milkweed back, but have decided to leave it for now.

The name of this flower is not coming to my brain right now.  Oh, I'm thinking it's a veronica of some kind. 

I hope the ironweed spreads some next year.

Maybe these seeds will end up in the ground and grow in the spring.

There is one more bloom that looks out of place for the season.

This is a different bloom than the one I posted recently.

These echinaceas are 'Prairie Splendor'.  Do they look diseased?

There are still a few seed heads on the bush clematis.

Now, we're facing east and south.

I didn't get the edge with more 'Fireworks' goldenrod in the previous photo, so I included this one in the post.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Foliage Follow-up

I put this post for Pam at Digging's Foliage Follow-up together a couple days ago, but forgot to schedule it to post.  In a few minutes, I plan to visit more GBBD posts, and expect to also see more foliage posts.

These photos were taken Saturday morning after the first snow of the season.

I don't remember noticing the skullcap foliage turning such a pretty red other years.

Amsonia 'Tabernaemontana', I'm pretty sure:

The Amsonia 'Tabernaemontana' here looks a little different from the previous one.  I just did some research, and think this one may be 'Illustrus'.  I'm pretty sure I did plant one at some point.  This one is split up the middle, I'm not sure why.  The false sunflower foliage is light brown, and the baptisia foliage has turned a nice dark color.

 I hope the 2 other Amsonia 'Hubrichtii' plants I put in other spots get nice and full like this one.

This is a variegated grass of some kind.  The liriope on the right is still green.  The brown stuff on the left is a goldenrod of some kind.

I just put my link in at Pam's place, and told her I hadn't included any grasses.  I forgot I had.  I decided to go ahead and add another photo that has some other grasses, which are growing to the right of the one above.  Larry insisted on getting these when we first moved here.  I have learned to like them.

I think I've shown the Euphorbia 'Bonfire' and rue for most if not all of the foliage follow ups.  That shows how great they look all season.  I am sad that the one I added in another spot in this bed died.  We had had so much rain the first few weeks after it was planted, that I think I forgot to make sure it didn't dry out later.  I'm not sure.  I did water some.  I asked the nursery about their guarantee, and they said they'd give me a replacement in the spring.

The foliage on the kale is looking good, and tasty, too.

I forgot what kind of sage this is.  I ended up not cooking much if anything with it this summer.  I'm glad they last so long in the fall.

This sage in the main herb garden looked like it wasn't going to make it this spring.  I cut it way back, and it put out some lovely new growth.

Some of the clematis foliage is looking like it thinks it's summer.

I am looking forward to spring, and hoping the new hellebores I planted this spring bloom, and the ones planted last year, get more blooms than they did this year.

I posted a similar photo of this area recently, but wanted to include some foliage from some trees.  This is a closer view taken in the front yard.  I've mentioned the vine next to the chair is a sweet potato vine that comes up every year, even though we were told it was an annual.  It dies back every winter.  Once it comes up in the spring, it grows so fast, I have to cut it back so that it will bush out and not get 20 feet long, twining all over itself.  Larry always cringes at the thought, but has learned that it is good for the plant.

Remember to go to Pam, at Digging's blog to see her foliage, and get the links to other posts about foliage.