They're Here! They're Here! My Birthday Herbs are Here! - September 2017

My Mountain Valley Growers herbs came yesterday.  I bought them with a gift certificate given to me for my birthday.

They are perfect!

Shipped in a long, tall box (8", the plants travel upright), with little stem supports, they arrived looking absolutely lovely!  I have ordered small pots of herbs from other nurseries, and these are, by far, the best.  The pots may be small (3" nursery pots actually measure 2 3/4 x 2 3/4), but the plants are bigger than I expected!  Really healthy too!

 What did I get?

DITTANY OF CRETE OREGANO: not a culinary oregano, it's used medicinally, and has been since ancient times. Homer mentioned how wild goats would eat this herb and wounds would quickly heal. It contains a natural antibiotic, many times stronger than penicillin!   In fact, Hippocrates would prescribe Dittany!  I am a follow-the-advice-of-your-physician sort of person, so won't be trying it.  I bought it for its fabulous bracts and unusually furry leaves!  It's just plain cute!

JUNIPER THYME:  also called "moonlight thyme" because of the silvery color of its needles.  I dislike juniper bushes with a passion, but in this case, juniper-esque is a good thing!  I like thyme for it's small size and terrific aroma.  For cooking I usually use sprigs off the larger English thyme plant and "collect" the other thymes just because!

BANANA MINT: it doesn't smell that much like bananas, but it definitely does not smell like mint!  It is not a bad smell, like sweet pear mint (at least I find the aroma rather nasty!), but not as fruity as strawberry mint, which smells exactly like strawberry jam!  Still, it's a wonderful new variety for my mint obsession!

DWARF GARDEN SAGE: a perfect candidate for a container.  I do use sage in my cooking. 

BLUE BOY ROSEMARY:  It's so cute!  And it has flowers!  Lowe's had some beautiful blue ceramic pots on sale which I resisted.  But, now, I want them!

WHITE GROSSO LAVENDER: a 3' high lavender for my front yard planter, among the Munstead lavender, Tuscan Blue rosemary and golden oregano.  I love lavender!  White Grosso makes my sixth variety! 

So, I am thrilled beyond reason!  Herbs do that for me...  

I have no affiliation with Mountain Valley Growers (www.mountainvalleygrowers.com), but will mention their Fall Extravaganza Sale still has another week (ends Sept. 28th) to go!  I am pleased with their plants!