My Garden – Mon Jardin – Mi Jardin – Mein Garten – Daily Adventures & Thoughts

No matter the language, my garden is my paradise. To watch the lovely birds that nest in the trees and bushes. The bees, butterflies are such a joy to see.

Tag Archives: richters herbs


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I finally visited Richters Herbs .. it was all like a dream ..

DH & I were back in Ontario a few months ago .. and at that time I was able to visit a place that I never thought I would be lucky enough to visit!  Richters Herbs!!  I’d ordered seeds from them for many years and so I was very happy to be there.  About 30 years or so ago, I’d written them, asking some kind of question and I received a hand-written letter in response.   I wish I’d kept the letter but over the years … things have a way of disappearing.

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This is a series of raised beds, located along the highway, in front of the shop.  There were many, many more .. but I just took one photo, I was so excited to be inside the shop!
601DH was visiting another place so he left me here for a blissful 2 hours!!   I started off to the right of the shop … marvelling at all the items that are available there.

604And there were hundreds of types of seeds, all arranged according to type.

605There was still another wall of seeds .. but, you get the picture.  I took my time here .. selecting seeds that I wanted.  Several types of lavender, white sage, etc.  These seeds have been already planted in my containers for “winter sowing of summer seeds”

606 Lovely … and inviting.

607Colours, essential oils .. the works!

608Tara, the Cat!  All cuddled up in her little bed by the front counter .. a sweet little tabby!

609I wandered everywhere … loving just being there.

610The heart of Richters, the greenhouse.

611Heaven .. I’m in Heaven .. looking at these herbs.  Lots of work to get them growing, potted, labelled and placed out for display.

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This is my Dream Home!

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I love mint and here were hundreds of plants, so many types .. very energizing.

614Loving the colourful flags …

615Healthy Rosemary plants … perfuming the air.

616Argh .. I think I had purchased one of these plants from a local grocer a few years ago.  It self-seeded itself hundreds of times and I just keep ripping them out of the ground.  Didn’t know it was edible though.

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I would have loved to bring a Patchouli home .. however, travelling light by plane doesn’t leave much room for plants, no matter how much I love them!

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Then I noticed this .. Tara is loved!  Crazy artistic rendering, eh?

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I felt right at home here .. such a welcoming sight.

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This was so nice to see …

621By the front counter .. I don’t know what this wooden artifact is but it certainly has character and adds to the ambience of this lovely place.

622After 2 hours of wandering around the greenhouse, perusing the many gardening books, loving every second of being there .. my 2 hours were up and DH was there to collect me and we continued our journey.  Bye Bye Richters .. it’s been so lovely.

603Beautiful 2-story brick house nearby .. lots of brick homes in Ontario .. loving them also.

602Sigh .. what a wonderful time.

Another dream come through.  After looking through their catalogues, over the years, painstakingly choosing which seed packet or live plant I wanted to purchase . .. it was just so wonderful to actually be there.

🙂


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Relaxing times and some things that bring me great joy .. throughout the year and every day, as a matter of fact!

Oh, doesn’t the time fly by sometimes, though!  I was taking a “few days” away from my blogging and how I have missed it.  This is my chance to write my daily thoughts, my dreams, my joy … and I love looking backwards throughout the year to see how my daily life unfolded.  My photos help me out a lot.  Sometimes life is so busy and so it is nice to look back and see what was happening.

Still having fun learning how to take photos with my Panasonic 30x camera … bringing little worlds up closer to look at:16And even closer … such tiny little flowers growing away ..

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While in the back yard …I think this is little Squirrely’s daughter …hungrily munching on a peanut …they have to survive.  Little Squirrely was a frequent visitor to our yard last year – we haven’t seen her for a long time.   This little one has lovely white markings .

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The new eco-friendly (aka bamboo) bird feeder is a welcome addition to the yard …  below is one of my impromptu “raised beds” planted with lots of garlic.  I was going to be more moderate in my plantings of Elephant (sigh, yes, a member of the leek family) and Kazakhstan garlic.  However, I ended up just going a little crazy and began planting like mad.  More photos in the next few months showing their progress.  Also, I’d learned in a garlic class that we shouldn’t plant sprouted garlic.  I was abiding by this wisdom until I saw the many sprouting garlic cloves.  And I remembered that last year I’d planted sprouted cloves in December that grew quite well so I succumbed and planted many more garlic cloves.13More eye candy .. a fallen oak leaf .. splendid in its natural beauty and natural surroundings.  I have a billion such leaves covering my garlic beds at home …..treasures, each and every one!

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And then .. DH & I went flying … thank goodness for digital cameras .. I click away as the beauty unfolds ..

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This was on Christmas Day … lovely skies …

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We flew over the old racetrack .. soon to be partial development, part common gardens, I believe .07

Low clouds, fluffy and soft …

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Sky art … lovely and fresh ..

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Such beauty …

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Time to land …after a number of circuits …

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Well .. that is where some of my time has gone over the past few days.

Time to get on with the day.  Things to do .. one of which is quite important and that is to make a listing of the oh so many Heritage seeds that I’ve purchased from Annapolis Seeds, Salt Spring Island Seeds and .. drum roll…. Richters Herbs.

I actually visited Richters Herbs in Ontario, during November.  Having ordered various seeds from them over the past 30 years, I was thrilled to actually visit this venerable seed company.   And …. yes .. I did take lots of photos.  That is for another day.

Speaking of another day .. another Seedy Saturday is coming up in February.  I am so looking forward to volunteering in this annual event.  This year I shall purchase more Heritage potatoes … i grew fingerlings last year in large pots and they did grow well.  I took photos of each pot’s harvest as I unearthed them.   That is for another day.

Today is here and I’m up up and away!!!

🙂


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Another day at the beach … gathering seaweed .. breathing in the fresh ocean air .. and there were seals out there!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Lovely lazy Sunday … slightly overcast and then the sun broke out of the clouds, yea!!!

Friday my pal D and I ventured out to Sooke to gather some seaweed for gardening.  It was a most beautiful day.

First thing, though,  had to check on my shallots .. hadn’t grown them before and had purchased some Dutch shallots from Richters Herbs… here is one of them .. shedding the papery husk of the original bulb .. I thought this was worthy of the “magic” of gardening so thus the photo.   They are tenacious growers and I would like to plant more of them.  Maybe I’ll get into a shallot growing  frenzy as I have done with garlic!

Everything is always magical in the garden .. it just never gets old and always I am humbled at the miracle of a seed growing into a plant .. the inherent knowledge of the plant (non-GMO, of course) .. nature happening in it’s own way …

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Here are some Valerian plants .. growing so tall .. I need to plant them soon …

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Ok, so D and I arrive at one of the many beaches in Sooke .. what a magnificent day.  And both of us are experiencing issues near our homes, where vast building projects are ongoing and we really need some natural beauty to offset the construction issues.  This s a good start.

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What amazing skies ..
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The stones are placed so artistically along the shoreline … now this is real art .. the natural kind.

 

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It was a lovely outing, escaping to nature.   No cranes.  No trucks.  No hammering.  Just the soothing sounds of the waves off in the distance .. a warm breeze swirling around us as we gathered seaweed.  Now that was a lot of work and we quickly filled some bags which I loaded into my trusty little car.   Then it was time to relax and go for a walk along the shoreline.

Such clear water on the firmly packed sand .. like a mini-pool

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The tide was way out there …. 
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I could see tiny crabs and lightning fast little fishes darting in all directions below.

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And D noticed this large piece of heavy industrial  plastic .. it looked like a hatch cover.  Would have liked to have removed it from the beach but it was very heavy, so we had to leave it there.

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Such a relaxing sight to see the myriad of stones beneath the clear saltwater.

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D noticed the seals … out sunning themselves on the rocks … their barking noises echoed over the water and sounded quite close to us

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And I learned from D that this is sea-asparagus.  Served in fine restaurants, imagine that.  Most likely not cheap, either.

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This ancient log resembles a whale, don’t you think?

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More seals …enjoying their natural habitat ..

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It was a fun relaxing day trip and finally it was time to leave .  However, we did stop along the way and went for another walk in a small forested area along the highway … where the fronds of the ferns were now unfurled and the well-worn pathways were edged with fields of them.

Photos tomorrow ..  now it is time to work outside .. to enjoy the one day of the week when the construction noises cease and I can pretend that today is like the normal days of years ago .. when quiet was normal.  sigh.

🙂