Do you remember my sea of cosmos that once took over my herb garden? I had let some cosmos go to seed the first year we put in our garden and the following year the herb garden was surrounded in cosmos. For the next couple of years, much to my confusion, the cosmos have been slowly not coming back. I have not really understood this as I always let them go to seed and self-sow as they wish. This year not a single cosmos sowed itself. Or so I thought!

While cleaning up the garden last week I found this little baby cosmos plant just starting to bloom. And so late in the year too! The weather we have had this year must have confused this little seedling as much as it confused me.

Has this ever happened in your gardens? Do you have some plants that reseed themselves like crazy for years only to disappear one year. I am baffled as to what might cause this to happen. Perhaps the little finches that find the cosmos seeds so delightful have something to do with it? Or could it be something to do with the weather? Whatever the case may be I have noticed this happening with several of my plants. Another one to do this disappearing act is my German Chamomile. It was once all over the garden- to the point of almost being ridiculous. This year I only have a handful that self-sowed and they are not doing all that well either. I find it very interesting and have noted it all in my garden journal.

So many memories are found in the soil of my garden. As I look back through my journal records for the past five years one thing jumps out at me: I will miss this garden.

These days we have been so focused on our house hunting to the point where other things in our lives are being placed on the back burner. This is in turn beginning to take a tremendous toll on me.

Every spare moment we are running out to go look at more homes. We live a rather large distance away so these searches are no small feat.

Our teeny tiny one income budget is not making this house hunt easy either. The home that we put an offer on that I mentioned about fell through. The seller was asking for way more than what the house is worth and we just couldn’t do it. I was heartbroken at first as it was a nice home in a beautiful neighborhood within walking distance to the library. Perhaps it is for the best as maybe there is another home out there that is meant for us.

One thing I have learned in this house search is just how much I want a small piece of land to homestead on. A half an acre would even be fine with me right now. We have always known this is what we want but we did not realize just how strong that pull was till we began looking at homes with almost no yard.

On Friday we are to go look for the second time at a home in Washington that is sitting on a half an acre. It is a rather small home so in some respects I cannot believe we are even considering it with our family of 6 but considering it we are. Taking a second look is always good. It fits nicely into our budget and even has fruit trees growing on it already. We shall see what Friday brings.

One thing I now know for sure—I do not want to skimp on this dream if we can at all help it. The garden and land and what comes with it is just far too important to me.

My herb garden is looking more and more beautiful each day. Right now I am in love with a certain combination I have planted at the front of the bed.

In the picture below you can find creeping caraway thyme (Thymus herba-barona) in full bloom. Next to the thyme is a dwarf hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis var decumbens ‘Nana’) that is just about ready to begin flowering. When the hyssop does flower it sends up spikes of a gorgeous deep blue and is just covered in them.

Behind the dwarf hyssop one will find a clump of variegated oregano (Origanum majorana ‘Variegata’). I am not the biggest fan of variegated plants. In fact they really have to be something for me to consider them. This variety of oregano is fantastic in my opinion. Not only is it very pretty with its golden foliage but it is also more well behaved than your common oregano. I have found that oregano can tend to be a little unruly in the garden if it is not contained. I learned this the hard way years ago as my oregano decided to take over the entire herb bed. These days I keep it happy in a nice container all to itself. This variegated oregano however is now three years old and still maintaining this tidy size. The leaves are also edible and not quite as strong as your typical oregano.

Another tidbit of news from the herb garden right now is the German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is once again bursting forth with apple scented blooms. I started a few seeds of chamomile three years ago and now the rest is history. As long as a little bit of chamomile is allowed to go to seed each year I will never have to plant it again. It is a very prolific self-sower and volunteers can and will come up everywhere. I actually love this as it is such a pretty little flower that is also very useful. Chamomile can be pulled up very easily too just in case it happens to come up in an area I do not want it to grow. This year I am using it as a filler plant in the vegetable garden. Chamomile will set its flowers and go to seed rather quickly no matter how much you harvest it’s sweetly scented blooms. By midsummer I yank the spent plants that are starting to be crowded out by other garden neighbors.  This is what I am doing with the Tomatillos I am growing this year. All around them you will find chamomile beginning to bloom. Once the tomatillos start to get large it will be time to send the chamomile to the compost heap (which happens to have chamomile sprouting all around it).

With this much chamomile in bloom right now you will find me out every morning after the dew has dried plucking the white daisy-like flowers and dropping them into my colander. I like to collect the blooms in my colander because the little holes give an escape route for the little critters that also find the blooms so enticing. Chamomile in bloom does an amazing job of attracting beneficial insects to the garden.

Once I have gathered all I can (or all a two year old little girl will let me) I bring the flowers inside to dry. I have mentioned on here more than once that my preferred method for drying herbs is in the oven with just the light on. I have found chamomile retains it’s lovely scent very nicely this way.

The herb garden is my absolute favorite spot in the entire garden. I just love how useful as well as beautiful herbs can be. I think the combination at the beginning of today’s post does a good job showing just how pretty a herb garden can be. I just cannot stop looking at that combination! Are there any combinations in your garden right now that you cannot take your eyes from?

All photos from this post can be clicked on to enlarge.