GardenBanter.co.uk - Thank you! (Other than mint . . .)

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions, some I had thought of but
others were new ideas. This group is so great!

In my searching, I found this web page which has likely been posted here
before but I'll post it again. This particular page at the site is
specifically about sun herbs.
http://www.paghat.com/garden16.html

Millennium Farms opened their greenhouse yesterday so I made my first trip
there the first day. I limited myself to one berry flat of plants because
I tend to go a bit overboard on the first trip. The limit was because the
garden isn't rototilled yet.

I bought:
Pink Top Agastache (for the butterflies and hummingbirds as well as bees)
Dukat Dill (should be pretty as well as good for the bees, and later birds)
French Tarragon (which I'll put in my herb garden and starts slips to
transplant)
English Thyme (which I'll put in my herb garden and starts slips to
transplant)
Sweet Woodruff (got two of those on recommendation though tag says
part-shade so will put only one out there)
Tricolor Sage
Golden Sage
Lavendar Blue Star
Chinese Lantern
Pennyroyal (bought three but will put only one out there and see how it
does in full sun)
And one Sun Gold tomato plant just because I had to buy at least one
tomato!

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135 ft. long???
Man! Many folks would give their eye teeth for that much space! lol

I wish it was in a location that wouldn't be accessible to passing male
dogs! There are many things I would love to plant there. In 2002, I put
a lot of my "mystery" tomato plants out there and had neighborhood
children adopt them. I put signs with the child's name on the ones that
belonged to someone with the others having a sign that said they were for
everyone to pick. They were very popular. The children were, of course,
cautioned to take the tomatoes home to wash them before they ate them,
and, surprisingly, they did! Cool. The following year, the chickens had
cleaned out the seeds in the garden so there were very few volunteers to
plant elsewhere so I didn't do it last year.

I'd put in a variety of herbs in that strip!

The ones that I have that crowd out weeds really well are Oregano,
Creeping thyme, Dittany of crete, and prostrate rosemary.

Unfortunately, Millennium's creeping thyme wasn't yet ready. I have a
Spicy Oregano plant that I think I'll move out there as I rarely use it,
always cutting from the others first. Katra, what is Dittany of Crete?
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You'd make some four-footed friends if you included catmint. :)

LOL. I'm trying to discourage cats coming around though I'd love to plant
some other than in the pot in the tree.

Along with what has already been mentioned, I have yarrow, chamomile and
lemon
balm in my herb garden. They naturalize nicely.

Thank you, Julie. I have some Lemon Balm from last year that has done
very well (bordered by a bottomless pot) that could use some dividing.
I'll put several starts from it out there. It's so especially pleasant
smelling which is exactly what I want.
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Several of the artemesias (eg. Silver King, Silver Queen) will spread.
They're not edible but are great for making wreaths. Anise hyssop
will self-seed and fill in nicely. It's good for cooking and teas and
bees. Lemon balm will spread and self-seed, but will be happier in
part shade.

Thank you, Dianna. The Lemon Balm from last year has done well in nearly
full sun so I'll try that. I'll definitely consider the artemesias, such
a good idea. A dill plant is going out there; will it cross with the
Anise or is that completely unrelated? (I've been told to keep dill and
fennel apart.)
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catnip (self-seeds _profusely_)(the blue-flowered Nepeta grandiflora is
a much worse spreader than the true catnip Nepeta cataria)
hyssop (self-seeds _profusely_)
oregano (self-seeds _profusely_)
California poppy (self-seeds _profusely_)
Mentha longifolia (comes true from seed, spreads by root runners, and is
pretty, too.)
Artemisia ludoviciana (currently trying to conquer the world from my
doorstep; not by self-seeding but by root runners)
elecampane (self-seeds, but isn't as fast to spread as the others. This
one gets very very tall, in flower. Pretty leaves, too.)
mullein (biennial, doesn't spread as fast as the rest, but it's still in
the top 10 in my garden)
motherwort (self-seeds _profusely_, gets rather tall)
ground-ivy (ground cover that spreads by root runners)
musk mallow (self-seeds _profusely_)
caraway (biennial, self-seeds, once it's established you'll have lots of
it.)
Add a potentilla or two and you're pretty much set.

Thank you, Henriette. There are a lot of really good suggestions there,
many of which I will incorporate. I have California poppies left over
from when I had wildflowers on part of it the first year I was here,
including some really lovely cream colored ones. They really are pretty
even though an annoyance where they're not wanted.
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Various thymes! Creeping thymes, wooly thyme is a common one that
will take the heat and dry areas. Oregano.. there are culinary Greek
Oregano which is kind of dry but hot and peppery in flavor, there are
also other "ornamental" oreganos like Golden, that are not culinary,
they just taste like grass. You could use some bush type thymes in
some areas too.. there are lemon thymes in both creeping and bush
types, usually green with yellow edged leaves, an there are silver
thymes.. green with white edges.. there are scads of different ones!
Feel free to become obsessed with thyme ;-)

It sounds like thyme (and oregano) are going to be the backbone of the
strip. I have several different ones in my herb garden now and will
definitely try to make starts from what I have.

Wooly Thyme wasn't ready yet either. :-(
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thyme, oregano, lemon balm all form dense groundcovers which do not
let anything else grow.

With all the suggestions about these, I'm seriously thinking of expanding
those to the parking strip next year if this works out. It would sure
reduce the mowing!

Given that you have that much space, I would
consider some perennial
edible, including asparagus, sorrel, horseradish, and raspberry.

I'd love to grow asparagus there, it would certainly be a good location
with extra fertilizer. However, both of the spears that have come through
this year at the corner of my house have been stolen already! That
stinks. One of my favorite childhood memories is collecting asparagus in
the spring from the ditchbanks on my grandparents' farm. The biggest
problem with asparagus in this location would be that it probably
shouldn't be eaten (because of the dogs), and people would pick it and eat
it. Ick. I already do have berries on the inside that I let grow through
for the children to pick, though the bushes on the outside would be good
but then I'd need to water which is what I want to avoid.
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I'll second the thyme and oregano, but throw in a couple of
clumps of chives. You'll never use them all, but they sure are
good when fresh, and they're pretty when they bloom.

The chives are a wonderful idea! I love to see them bloom. Since I have
plenty in the herb garden, these can bloom away and spread to their
hearts' content. :-)

Rosemary will spread quite well also.

I was concerned Rosemary would get too high, but someone else suggested
prostrate Rosemary so I'll try that. In the meantime, I might make some
starts and plant the taller varieties and move it to another area as it
gets larger in another couple of years. I've long considered a Rosemary
and Lavender hedge along the fish pond; this would be a good way to start
it until the arborvitae is completely out of that location.
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I'd love to be able to sow Thyme seeds out there but I tried it last year
beside my storage shed and not a single plant from three packages of
seeds! (All came from Shumway so I'm not sure if it was me, the location
or possibly bad seeds.) It doesn't seem like I have even a slightly green
thumb. It only goes to verify what I say about my garden . . . it grows
in spite of me, not because of me.

Thank you, again, everyone, for all the wonderful ideas!

Glenna