Good morning, again, everyone. I thought I would share some more pictures of the gardens. These are some of my favorites of this year. First up--the Vietnamese Multicolor pepper. It has some beautiful purple developing on the leaves and the peppers (when they come) will range from light green to cream to lavender to red. And they can be picked at any stage. They are supposed to be mildly hot. It is a beautiful plant and has a very different growth habit from the peppers I usually grow. I will show some of those another time.

This is the lemon verbena. I haven't grown this herb for many years and had a very hard time finding it. I have only one source in the area. I also forgot how tall these grow--4 to 6 feet. Therefore, it has its own pot and, since it isn't hardy in my growing zone, it will spend the winter inside. I also need to keep it pruned to a short height. I may also try to prune the roots as well to control the height.

And look at this--the first little tomato!! This is on the yellow cherry. Since I first found this one several more have appeared on a couple of the other tomatoes. I am so looking forward to the first slicers that get large enough for fried green tomatoes and then the first that ripen. Any we can't eat we will sauce and freeze.

And here is my new stevia. I tried growing from seed and had no luck at all. I also tried growing from cuttings with the same lack of success. As long as I can get seedlings I will grow it that way. Right now I have two local sources and it seems to be popular with local gardeners. We love it for hot or iced tea and it works well fresh or dried. The white below is a collar made from a gallon vinegar jug to support the plant and keep it from spreading over the lavender and other plants.

This is my spearmint--another herb I haven't grown for many years. This is another plant that needs its own pot because it is very invasive and spreads from the roots. I have to start pruning it back and drying the leaves. For the fall I plan to split it, put it into smaller containers to sink into the larger containers to overwinter. It is hardy in this zone and I plant to mulch the beds and cover them with plastic tents. The last time I did anything like that I had large raised garden beds and I lived in Colorado. I wonder how the plants will do here in large containers.

This is a ginger mint. I loved the variegated color and bought it on impulse. It is also a very invasive and needs its own pot--a large pot. This is another plant that is hardy in this zone and I hope to overwinter it in the gardens like the spearmint. I don't know how strong the flavor is yet.