It's About Thyme

My camera is home, just in the nick of time. Although I was very unhappy to have had to spend $35 to have it repaired when I knew in my heart-of-hearts that I did not cause any "impact damage," the compromise between D. Scarela at Fuji Film and I turned out to be a stellar move. The replacement camera he sent me (with a new 6 month warranty), although supposedly a refurbished one from another customer, has so obviously seen no prior use that it's laughable. I have a new camera. For spring.

My lack of photo accessability has left me unable to show you my lemon blossoms... they were beautiful as well as sweetly aromatic, but looking at the buds that have taken their place, I'm clearly going to have another "bumper" crop of fruit. I count at least 6 lemons in process. That would be a record!


My roses, which I cut back mercilessly in January, are full and blooming in profusion. When I think of other parts of the world that are still getting snow storms, I realize again how lucky I am to live in Los Angeles.




My herb garden is growing like fury.

Last year, my mint plant did not do so well, sending off spindly shoots embellished by tiny and unsatisfying leaves. This year it's thick and abundant.

I would think that it was my blogging threats to transplant it in the ground that frightened it into it's current vigor, but in truth, I read Crazy Aunt Purl's blog about her garden (Post of 4/14/08), and she reports the same phenomena with her mint. Must be something about the seasonality and the weather patterns in the San Fernando Valley.

She also made a comment about her Thyme that startled me. In almost the same breath as her mint. Her Thyme is doing poorly to say the least. So is mine.

I bought my Lemon Thyme at the same time as my other small-pot herbs. Lavendar, Sage, Parslely, and a Mabel Gray Geranium. The latter four have grown in profusion, bursting forth from their pots in a way that makes me beam with pride. My thyme, though, never did well. It didn't grow last year; I attributed it to being underneath a couple of my succulants that were blocking it from the "full sun" that it required. So I moved it over by my front door where it could capitalize on as much light as my patio receives. I trimmed back it's dead branches and was rewarded by 8 or 10 small leaves that grew quickly into full sized thyme adornments. I pointed it out to Eric, thinking that I had fixed the problem.

Then, suddenly last week, I realized that all the leaves had dropped off. I pointed that out to Eric too. I guess it's dead. And I wondered if the pot - one that I had had for many years was somehow infected with some kind of blight and was killing whatever I was planting in it. After all, I have not successfully grown anything in it since my bromiliad - which I kept going for MANY years with multiples of blossomings - had died. Maybe I needed to really scrub the pot out and then let it roast in the 110 degree heat over summer this year. Give it a chance to detox.


This morning I went outside, sadly, to pull out the stump of what was left of the thyme. And was startled. There is, once again, a small but vigerous attempt by it to grow. Small patches of green adorn sections of what appeared to be dead stems at regular intervals.


Is this a miracle of spring? Or perhaps Mother Nature's way of messing with my mind?

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Sunny is also enjoying spring. He would deny it, but the evidence of a crust of dirt on the top of his nose leather speaks volumes.

He has started his hole-digging venture for 2008.