This is the hilled bed right beside the terrace. There are a variety of conditions: sun, shade moist and dry.
The trees are: pommegranates “rosavaya” and “wonderful”, very pretty but in the wrong climate, two feijoas (no cultivar) which bear well in Katoomba and are not affected by the dreaded fruit fly. There is a lemon tree, which gives lemons nearly year round and my notes say it’s a “Meyer”. Two other still small citrus trees the one on the northern side is the mandarin Miho Wase (Satsuma).
I try to keep the North facing part open for my common kitchen herbs: rosemary, sage, Greek oregano and my little thyme collection. You will find:
- thyme ‘pizza’, thymus nummuralis,
- thyme, creeping bergamot Thymus serphyllum
- thyme “Jekka”,
- thyme creeping white, thymus serphyllum
- thyme creeping orange peel, thymus nitidus
I planted chives, garlic chives, green onion and garlic all around the garden they are all perennial and benefit from regular clipping. However, they should not be confused with the daffodils and jonquils, both poisonous. In the crevices of the stones there are pink violets and some succulents.
Bloody dock, rumex sanguineus, a perennial salad ingredinent grows right beside an ornamental geum which I believe is “Lady Stratheden”.
The rare bistorta affinis, the Himalayan bistort, sits right at the edge.
Towards the house grows a huge sage-like flower, which I cannot identify, but it’s pretty nevertheless, just an ornamental. Right on top of the hill there is a plant which looks like an iris and is most likely Orris root or Iris Germanica florentina, it flowers white with mottled mauve veins.
Coltsfoot Tussilago farfara grows profusely, but I don’t mind since the leaves are pretty. Super rare and very useful in the garden and the medicine chest and garden preparations is equisetum hyemale one of the horsetails which is incredibly ornamental. Since it’s classified as a weed, don’t let it go out of this bed! There are some Japanese Windflowers throughout the bed and very likely the pretty but deadly foxglove digitalis purpurea will come up on it’s own accord. Feverfew, tanacetum parthenium tends to grow in this bed too, but is not invasiva at all.
Unfortunately there is some Russian Comfrey growing throughout the bed, it’s useful for creams, animals and the garden though.
There are some rarities and some more ordinary herbs growing in the shady side of the bed:
- Lemon balm, melissa officinalis
- Lime balm, melissa officinalis “lime”
- Lime verbena aloysia triphylla ‘Lime’
- Moroccan mint
- Asarum Europeum (super rare)
- Wood betony, stachys officinalis or betonica officinalis
Alexanders, Smyrnium olusatrum will self-sow everywhere in a much bigger quantity than an average family could ever eat. Still it is a useful perennial vegetable for shade and pretty too.
There is also a plant which I bought from an elderly lady, I believe it’s Pseudofumaria lutea, yellow corydalis a rather unruly plant.
The Northern side of the bed is where the echinaceas are growing, ebautiful and immune boositing (echinacea purpurea). There is also Moroquan mint and one of the rare Chinese Rhubarbs, I have to find the exact species yet.
There are also various varieties of strawberries planted through the beds, also some of the better varieties like ‘Cambridge rival’.
1 thought on “Bed 1 Thymes, Kitchen Herbs and more”