To Herb or Not To Herb...No Question

Black Raspberries

   ...Snow blew across the landscape as the groundhog's revenge zapped us, again.  That predicted early spring had better happen soon.  However, an all-white terrain beats the dreary gray blah of January we experienced here in the Magic City.  Today I spent my day looking through my herb books under the pretense of straightening up my bookshelves.  Actually, I have realized that I am yearning fpots of little green herbs growing in pots in Le Petit Jardin.  I even dug out some seed packets with the dream of sunflowers while devising how I would keep them safe from the neighborhood groundhog as they grew big enough to fend for themselves.                                             
      As I perused my photo files, the sparkling image of raspberries jumped out at me.  The Herb of the Year is bramble.  Blackberries and raspberries are included in the bramble collection.  Once upon a time I had such treasures growing in my much larger garden.  For several years I enjoyed the summer treat of fresh berries to add to my breakfast.  Those same sumptuous berries were also the first digital images I was to capture from that garden.  That imge is a sweet memory of times and gardens past.  The raspberries could still be grown in a container in Le Petit Jardin...sweet food for thought...            
       February is the month that calls the shot, so to speak, as to whether or not I have managed to hang onto the rosemary plants that were brought into the apartment over the winter.  After bringing in two rosemaries, one of them had already bitten the dust.  I misted the remaining rosemary dutifully with my trusty spray bottle in the hope of coaxing it to make it until spring.  No such luck.  With the help of my feline roommates, the rosemary gave up the ghost.  Strangely enough, the lemon verbena I brought in is leafing like a champ.  Though I have had to move it around a bit to keep the kitties from munching on it, the lemon verbena is still alive and may well make it to spring when I can put it outside again.  Those kitties do love those lemony leaves!    
      Toward evening it snowed with wild abandon as nearly 3 inches of the white stuff stacked up.  But sone time during the night snow turned into rain.  By morning we were back to wet grayness  in the Magic City.  Hey, Springtime, this winter thing isn't working out, so how's about we get on with warmer weather and a bit of sunshine!  Looking around at the squirrel craters is kind of depressing, too.  In the meantime, I am planning a whole new garden thing for the containers I have.  There will be much spray painting and re-planning of plants with purposeful uses this year.  I may even be too busy for tea and cookies...Wait a minute, I refuse to be that busy!  Tea and cookies will be my reward for all the work I will put toward re-inventing Le Petit Jardin, 2020.  New decade, new garden.  Having gotten my priorities straight, I can now return to my herb books with greater enthusiasm as I plan for the not so distant gardening future...  Herbies, take heart!  Spring is on its way! ...