Herb Gardening 101

I've long thought that I would enjoy having an herb garden. It intrigues me to think of plants having powers to heal and protect, and I like the earthy flavors of culinary herbs. So of course I signed up for a three-part presentation a master gardener is doing at the local library, starting tonight. Surprisingly enough, the hubby agreed to go along.

Unfortunately, the presentation was a bit disappointing, lacking any semblance of cohesion. The presenter seemed to forget what point she was trying to make, and went off on tangents that reduced the speech to a collection of random facts. Still, she obviously knew her stuff, and I did learn a thing or two. First among them, that I have to wait for spring to plant them, and that I'll need to be able to overwinter quite a few of them indoors. I thought they were hardier than that.

The room was full of interesting people though, and I hope they all come back for the rest of the meetings. We had three other master gardeners in attendance, including a couple who run a perennial business and want to add herbs to their stock. There was a woman who claimed to be a shaman and a practitioner of holistic healing. There were people looking to spice up their cooking, and people who were just curious about the topic.

One of the women in attendance brought with her a bag of green stems to give away, the plants I'm holding in the photo. She said they were seed heads of garlic chives. Do they not look a whole lot like the mystery plant from a couple of posts ago? The ones in the woods are bigger, and their seeds are rounder, but otherwise they're the same. The woodlings grow from a bulb that sits on top of the ground and looks a lot like a clove of garlic. I think I'm getting close to identifying them, based on a chance encounter. What are the odds?

Actually, this sort of thing has been happening a lot with this house. There have been so many serendipitous events, so many coincidences and lucky breaks. I'm taking it all as a Good Sign.