Herbs, herbs, herbs

This is my new and improved herb garden. The picture was taken a few weeks ago and already the plants are beginning to fill in the empty spaces.

Normally, I love the unkempt look, but there is something really nice about a new, neat, tidy, new garden. It is all about hope for the future.

This garden used to contain huge plants; lavender, oregano, sage, and rosemary, but winter took its toll. Not only that, but I didn't do much pruning, so the lavender and rosemary were like small trees. My husband John, who has been a gardening trouper of late, dug them out and replaced them. The new rosemary is so small, it is hardly visible. Its growth with all the luscious rain we have received this Spring, however, is measurable. I will be diligent with my pruning this year.

I love gardening because it is such a learning experience. This is the second revision of my first-ever herb garden. It has been great fun to watch the plants grow and to use them in cooking.

This garden now contains chives, garlic, lemon balm, basil, oregano, cilantro, dill, rosemary and thyme. Since the picture, I've added flat-leaf parsley. In the perennial garden, I've added lemon-thyme, lemon-mint, and lavender. My hope is that the herbs will take over the entire yard.

Now if only we could find an herb that eats chiggers, I'd be a really happy Ozark gardener.

Earth Day, my favorite day of the year

Today is my favorite day of the year -- Earth Day.

Mother Earth was kind enough to give presents -- a gentle rain shower that turned our Arkansas back yard into a rain forest. The sun is shining now. Like all females, Mother Earth is prone to changing her mind. As I look out the window into the woods, droplets of rain on the still new leaves sparkle as the warm sun caresses them. The landscape shimmers as if dressed in sequins. Thank you Mother Earth. The effect is spectacular.

Twenty years ago on this day, I experienced a kind of environmental awakening that has forever changed how I see and think about things. This new kind of spirituality inspires deeper thought, a kind of peripheral vision that takes in new dimensions, and a sense of connection to all living things.

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world," said John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, who was born on this day.

That quote has been my favorite since I first heard it. Connections are not always clear. Sometimes they are difficult to discern, but we must not be blinded by the obvious.

On that day twenty years ago, I walked with a group of other nature lovers along a trail. It was a time when "Save the Earth" was a popular slogan. I was disturbed about oil spills, killing dolphins in tuna nets, too much plastic that never degrades, landfills overflowing with trash that could be recycled into useful products, and the very future of the only planet we can call home. But as I walked the trail, in the forest remnant that had been largely untouched since it was carved out by glaciers hundreds of thousands of years ago, I realized that humans aren't able to save the earth any more than they can affect it. Mother Earth will save herself, even if it is at our expense. I fear for humans who totally miss the point. The only thing that man's work will destroy is man.

I'm saddened that little has been accomplished in the past 20 years. And I am frustrated -- no angry -- at recent political attempts to reverse protections of the environment. Thankfully, the pendulum has swung back again.

Even though I'm unhappy that there must be legal efforts to thwart man's destructive behavior against himself, it is too important not to be supportive since not everybody gets it. My hope for the environmental future of mankind is that more people realize the connections.

Spectacular Spring

This Spring has been absolutely spectacular. Thanks to the hard work of my husband who has done the heavy lifting, or should I say heavy digging, this Spring has been a joy to behold.

This white lilac is a good example of one of many successes we have enjoyed this season. It has been a spectacular Spring, with a color pallet filled with every conceivable shade of green. A whole other pallet includes all the other colors. I don't know which is better, the pinks, purples, yellows, or those glorious greens.

Winter was long. It seemed as though it took so much time to get here, but it was worth the wait. With the trees fully leafed as well as shrubs and flowers blooming, I could not be more satisfied.

I was especially pleased to see this plant bloom. In only its second year, it was loaded with tall spikes of tiny perfect flowers.

Planting this particular plant was deliberate. It was planted to honor my late father. It was similar to a variety he planted so many years ago. I had little interest in gardening in those days, yet I do recall how enamored he was with his double white lilac. And, I never forgot its unmistakably sweet fragrance. I didn't hesitate when I saw this plant in a catalogue.

So Dad, this one's for you. I wish you were here to enjoy it with me.