What's in your garden?

It's the time of year when everything in the garden looks wonderful. 

This guy was on the side of our home the other day. Stick bugs are

such a strange product of evolution.  

My two pots of basil have been great this year. 

I've made several batches of my "pesto pucks" already.
The link to my post with the recipe & process I use.

Another pot holds a mass of herbs that have made it for a few years.

The Sage had gotten quite large so I decided to try some preserving techniques.
The Kitchn had some ideas. I hung some to dry,
did some in the microwave, froze some in water & did some sage butter.
Next clipping I want to try the sage honey.
 Should be great in home made dressing as the sweetener.

Going Underground

Not in the way you think. Underground as in roots, water, plants. It 's a bit of a cheat to allow a  discussion on gardening.

It's been a long winter and Spring has finally sprung. People in these parts go a little nutty once the weather breaks. We've been cooped  up way to long. Feeling the sun on our skin and getting dirt under our fingernails is wonderful tonic to erase the lethargy of winter. 

Before we moved to our current location, a condo, we had a large backyard that we turned into an oasis. We were honored to be on the city Garden Walk one summer. 

This beauty is a clematis called Miss Bateman.  She climbed up a light post in our front yard. We recently bought one for our current yard and hope it is as much of a stunner as this one once was.

 Our back yard had many large trees so shade loving plants were a must. Lots of Hosta, Ligularia, Sweet Woodruff.

We designed our own fountain feature that turned out very well. 

The things that spring up from Underground amaze us every year.

 This shot is my screen saver at work. I think it may the favorite of all the pictures I've ever taken. Poppies are brilliant for a short time & another one of those natural things that capture the attention of artists.

We have a much smaller area now to tend, which is fine, a hill out back that we covered with Sweet Woodruff, We brought some of our favorite hostas with us. We keep tweaking what we have now to suit our gardening style. Life in the garden is good.