The Friends in my Garden

Sadly my work life has recently been overshadowing my home life, thus I haven't had much to blog about. This weekend I managed to break away a bit and spend an hour or two in the garden. Although the lavender blooms have faded a bit with the 100 degree weather, the garden is still abuzz with bees. I dug out a few ginormous weeds that had taken advantage of my absence and added a few rocks to the nascent wall.

When I look at my garden I am reminded of some special folks. When I first moved into my house, Linda gave me the yellow Potentilla. She said all desert gardens should have potentilla. I am embarrassed to say that I nearly killed it twice before it settled in and grew back. It is a spunky little survivor.

The lemon thyme is blooming. It reminds me of my friend Laura, who had it growing in the front yard of the little house she renovated, before moving out to Red Rock, and ultimately to Oregon.

One of the enthusiastically overgrowing Russian sage along the front of the garden was given to me by Sharon, who dug it out of her own yard. The Russian sage, along with two more varieties of lavender, have grown into a fragrant hedge. The ground around them is deep purple, covered by cast off blooms.

And of course the lavender reminds me of my mother, who loved the fragrance and the exotic culinary touch of herbes de Provence that could be made from the dried blossoms.