A Touch of Lavender

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,

When I am king, dilly, dilly, you shall be queen.

Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?

'Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.

Words to an old English folk song and nursery rhyme from the 17th century.

Here is the lavender that I am afraid to do anything with. I have had many failures with lavender over the years and finally got one to come back every year. It is close to the foundation of the house and that along with a pine straw mulch in the winter...seems to be the answer. It's almost ready to bloom for the first time.

Another bit of the color lavender is my new clematis...Pagoda. It is a tiny bell shaped flower that is growing on the trellis that I made last year. It was planted with another clematis....Princess Diana. Maybe you can see the reddish little blossom just starting to bloom. It is not quite as vigorous as Pagoda. The photo makes it look red...it's actually a dark pink. I have several clematis with large flowers, but these little ones took my eye and I just love them. I love the way they are trailing on the porch railing.
This isn't a very good picture of columbine. It came up from nowhere in my herb garden. It's just about on it's last leg, so I wanted to get a picture before it died back.
My sage is blooming it's head off. I have picked a few branches and brought them in the house. I love the leaves of sage and the flowers are a bonus.
Here is a clump of chives in the herb garden. I like to pick them for bouquets too. I find that chives are tougher after they bloom. What a hardy plant this one is.
Today is another sunny day. It thundered a bit at bedtime, but no rain came of it. Our lawn is starting to show some stress...the outline of the septic field, in the back yard, is starting to turn a crispy tan color. I have been watering my new plants most days. Isn't that the way it always is...we plant then no rain? The winds were howling yesterday afternoon. Sixty mile gusts here in N. Illinois. The branches of the ash tree in front were whipped around and bent to the ground. Now this morning, there are little clumps of leaves all over our yard.....even in the back. You probably can guess what I'll be doing soon :(

Balisha