Cloverleaf Herb Farm

I had a good crop of swallowtail butterfly caterpillars on our remaining potted parsley plants. I watched as they munched their way through the foliage, and when it was all gone, I put the rue plants on the same flat and the caterpillars moved over and resumed feeding. Other plants in the same family, like fennel and dill are also host for swallowtail caterpillars. They will become yellow and black tiger or black swallowtail butterflies. Most caterpillars leave the host plant to form their chrysalis, often attaching to a branch or wooden form of some kind.

I was talking to a friend the other day and she said their sweet autumn clematis was in bud. Ours is in full bloom on the ends of the pergola. It always reminds !e of a fragrant white cloud when it blooms. Being native, it is exceedingly hardy. Although the flowers are smaller than many clematis varieties, it blooms in such profusion, as to produce a stunning show.  And the aroma is divine!

As I go through the gardens cutting back and cleaning up, I'm beginning to remove some annuals that have suffered with our hot, dry summer. It's early for me to do this, but things that looking poorly will not recover at this point. Some things are just plain late this season. Several customers talked to me about their hyacinth bean vines doing poorly. Mine has really just started to grow well in the last few weeks. It's flowering now, so if any beans develop, it will be a small number.

More plants I like:

Attar of rose geranium - My favorite rose geranium for scent. It's a lovely floral fragrance produced by its oil which is used in perfumery. Like other rose geraniums, it has clusters of small, pink flowers. It is wider than tall, and really behaves like a ground cover on the garden, although the plant is not winter hardy.

J