SC - Starter Plants

[Christine A Seelye-King]

>You gardeners out there:  if you were starting a mixed sort of garden, 
>flowers, etc., but mostly perennial--what plants would you want to put 
>in for cooking/preserving/even medicinal purposes?

>Allison

One of the first plants I put in my herb garden was my rosemary.  While
it is sick right now (the painters tromped it badly), it has withstood
the winters and summers here, and is a very nice centerpiece (usually) to
the small area I have.  I also use it regularly.  There is a legend that
says that the home that has a healthy rosemary bush has a dominant woman
inside!  (I recently gave a new rosemary plant as a housewarming gift to
a friend of mine!)   

Other things I have added by trial and error.  Some things like the shady
area I have to offer them, some don't.  Last year I started some herbs
from seeds, and of everything, the parsley did the best, so I planted it.
 It wintered over just fine, and I have almost 2 1/2 foot high parsley
plants now!  I always add basil every spring, along with other aromatic
annuals.  I added Rue a few years ago, and it has taken off.  I recently
found it with a brick on top of it (darn those painters!) blooming
wildly.  It couldn't be happier in a place I have tried about 4 different
plants with no success.  I have a mixture of plants with historical
meaning, plants that I have some emotional attachment to, medicinal
plants, even though I don't usually harvest medicinals from my own yard
(except for aloe), I like a representative of those plants I use
regularly.  I also added several flowers last year (Sweet Williams and
Snapdragons), a Woad plant I bought at Pennsic (and no, I am not going to
try what all accounts say is a very noxious process when I can buy it
from the Guild of Limners, thank you very much!), and Echinacea Purpurea
(no purple coneflowers yet, but great big foliage). Lavender, foxglove,
ginger, columbine, rose, yarrow, fennel, sage, thyme and oregano round
out the rest, in addition to the usual Georgia plants, Dogwoods, Azaleas,

4 O'Clocks, Holly, and WEEDS!  (Don't add those, you will get plenty!)
Good luck, have fun, and keep trying.  Obviously different plants like
different areas, you just have to find the ones that are best suited to
each other.  

Mistress Christianna MacGrain, OP, Meridies


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