Lemon thyme about to flower

I am in a slight dilemma over some lemon thyme that is growing in my herb garden at the moment. It is completely sprawling all over willy-nilly like but that is not the dilemma I am referring to today. You see, my current dilemma with my lemon thyme has to do with it on the verge of being in full bloom. Have you ever seen how blanketed in tiny sweet flowers thyme can be? It is really rather pretty not to mention a feast for beneficial insects like bees. This is also the best time to harvest thyme- right before it flowers.

French thyme in flower

So, my dilemma at the moment is do I let it flower {like the French thyme is currently in full swing with} or do I harvest it to dry for use throughout the rest of the year?

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.

Last weekend my family and I made a trip out to a beautiful area outside Portland called Sauvie Island. Just a few minutes from the city you can be surrounded by farms and serenity. It is a beautiful spot to visit but I had my sights set on a particular location found on Sauvie Island. I wanted to pay a visit to a nursery devoted to selling just herbs called the Blue Heron Herbary.

The last time I paid a visit to this beautiful nursery my daughter was still a baby and my visit was cut shorter than I would have liked. I was very happy to be able to return again with her a little older so she could enjoy it with me. It is not just the large array of herbs for sale that gets me excited about this nursery. In fact it is their absolutely beautiful display garden that I was really looking forward to seeing. The display garden at the Blue Heron Herbary is a knot garden design full of Elizabethan herbs and it is just beautiful.

Looking out across the display garden

The Elizabethan knot garden display

Another view of the Elizabethan knot garden display

I do believe everyone in my family was surprised at just how pretty a garden full of just herbs could be. My husband stated several times how peaceful the garden was. The garden is truly a wildlife sanctuary as it was bursting with birds and butterflies. We were very excited to see several birds nesting in the birdhouses found throughout the garden. My 10 year old son said it was so relaxing there that he wanted to lie down and take a nap in a corner of the garden!

Within the knot garden some lavenders were reaching full bloom.

To make the visit even better I was able to pick up some herbs on my wish list that I had not yet been able to find. Of course I also came home with some herbs I had not intended on buying! I do feel like I displayed some self control though as I could have gone crazy. I did not even allow myself to browse their huge selection of lavenders because I do not need another lavender plant and you can bet had I browsed that huge selection I would have came home with one or two or maybe even three.

Within the display garden there is a large patch of Sweet Cicely that I thought was very pretty.

My daughter also liked the Sweet Cicely. Its flowers are the perfect height for her to examine.

The displays found throughout the nursery were just as lovely as the Elizabethan garden. My husband and I particularly liked this arrangement of pots placed in a corner of the nursery. In fact I so liked the plant combination of thyme and variegated calamint (Calamintha grandiflora ‘Variegata’) featured in one of the pots that I ended up buying a variegated calamint so I could duplicate this combo in my own garden. This says a lot because I do not usually go for variegated plants but this combination was so pretty I just could not stop eyeing it.

Tucked into a corner of the nursery one can view this pretty little display.

Here is the thyme and calamint combination that I liked so much. The thyme was not labeled but to me it looks like lemon thyme.

On top of the nursery there is also a gift shop to browse through. Everything herbal can be found inside this cute little shop. Things like spice mixes, to jams, to tea pots, to books on herbs; herbal heaven for someone that loves herbs as much as I do.

A little shop bursting with herbal goodies.

My family and I all had such a nice time strolling the gardens and nursery that Saturday afternoon. We enjoyed it so much so that my husband and I have been discussing possibly planting an Elizabethan herb garden in our front yard. In fact if I can find the time I might just attempt it seeing how this visit left such an impression on us.

If you ever want to tour nurseries in and around Portland, Oregon the Blue Heron Herbary is definitely one you do not want to pass up. Oh, and bring your camera! Photographing what you like helps to remember displays that you might want to duplicate in your own garden.

Photos in this post may be clicked on to view fullsize.