This Week In The Garden

I've been yard-harvesting for almost two weeks now.  I've harvested as much dandelion root as I could but once dried, it doesn't look like much.  My hands, lower back and legs would protest the meagre harvest, but they are all too tired to complain.  I noted (and promptly picked) three dandelion blossoms today, so I have to say that the root harvesting is over until the Autumn.  All that energy is being sent up into blooms now, which I'll happily pick all summer in the hopes of making some syrup, infused oil and hopefully some wine too!

I also picked some plantain today, some common mallow, and some of the chickweed shown below for a nice healing salve for my already worn-out hands. I love that there are so many great plants just sitting in the yard, waiting to be found!

Shabby phone-quality pics aside, I'm excited to capture the return of the perennials!  Here is a fancy yarrow that blooms a gorgeous orange-red:

This rather obscene-looking mess is rhubarb returning.  I have a love-hate relationship with it.  I find it brutish and bitter, but my mother makes the most amazing rhubarb muffins with a brown sugar topping that makes it worth putting up with this monstrosity.

This is a pot of vervain vigorously growing.  I honestly thought I'd lose all my potted herbs this Winter, but the vervain and the evening primrose seem to be pretty hardy.  The vervain didn't bloom last year (I grew it from seed, sown straight into the pot) so I hope I get some pretty blue flowers this Summer!

This is not a plant.  This is Dexter, who has planted himself in the sink.

I didn't take pictures of the miniscule peas and radishes that have popped up in the veggie beds, but I am terribly happy to see them.  With the snow/rain/sun/frost we've been having, I was getting worried about the seeds I had planted. 

It seems like the weather has finally shifted and we are finally coming into a proper Spring!