Partner-in-Climb got walloped by a nasty flu so this weekend was spent close to home. While he was recuperating in bed, I spent a lot of time online trying to get some ideas for Mother’s Day Gifts for my mom AND his mom.

I am pretty sure I am going to get my mom this awesome herb garden kit from Mountain Valley Growers. I like the idea of getting her live plants for Mother’s Day because she loves to garden, and it is the perfect time to plant in her zone. I also like the idea of getting her plants because the last time I bought her clothes for Mother’s Day, I ended up going to the Gap no less than 4 times to exchange the jeans she insisted would fit her for different sizes.

Anyway, I think I am going to get my mom the Kitchen Herb Garden because I know she loves the 6 herbs it features. I am still debating whether or not to get her a pyramid or hexagonal planter as well. She has a big garden, but I am sure she already has most of the space planted or designated for planting. If I get her a planter, at least she has the option of putting the plants on the deck or something. As long as it doesn’t mess with the overall theme of her outdoor decor, I think she will really like it.

PIC and I collect rocks from different places we’ve climbed or visited as mementos, and while most of the rocks are small, there are a couple in our place that are around 15 lbs. each and are placed decoratively near the fireplace. At least, they are usually near the fireplace. Recently, Partner-in-Climb has gotten into the habit of using the larger rocks as weights, which I guess makes sense for training for climbing, since the rocks force different grips than free weights do. They seem to be a decent substitute for the Metolius hang board that we had at our last place, and I don’t have a problem with him using them, except for the other evening, when they did not make it back to their home next to the fireplace. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that the rocks weren’t back by the fireplace until I was walking through the living room the next morning–before I put my contacts in–and so I walked at full speed into the more jagged of the two rocks. I will not get into a graphic description of my injury, because it is REALLY gross, but I believe from the persistent pain I have been experiencing since that moment that I will be losing this toenail very soon. I am not quite sure if it is a really bad bruise at this point or a fracture, but in either case, it means a few days of reduced activity until the swelling and pain subside. I cringe at the thought of even trying to put on my climbing shoes or biking shoes at this point.

However, the weekend is coming and I know I will get stir-crazy if I am stuck in front of the TV without a plan for some activity, so I think I am going to do some gardening and figure out how I want to set up our patio and porch for spring and summer. We have tons of plants already for ambiance and scenery, now we just need furniture! I was looking for some design ideas online and saw that Design On A Dime is re-airing an episode on outdoor patio design on March 26th, so I will definitely tune into that to get some ideas. I think I want to get a set of steamer chairs for the porch, and then have a grill and small table set up on the patio, but who knows, maybe I’ll get more inspiration from the show.

In related garden news, the feverfew, chamomile and lemon balm I planted a few weeks ago are really taking off! I still have to get around to writing a post about lemon balm. It’s a really beautiful and fascinating plant. I started a few of the babies on our spider plant in their own pots last weekend and re-potted some of our older plants, who love the weather at their new home and have been growing like weeds since we moved in. The next mission is to get some sunflowers started.

I recently bought a few new plants in celebration of spring, and so far, they are doing fantastic. I am really optimistic about their progress. They are all technically “herbs“, which is slightly new territory for me. I tried to start some lavender when we first moved in, and it failed miserably, so that shook my confidence for a while. The problem with city living is that all the plants need to be in containers rather than in the ground, and some plants just don’t take well to container life. Here’s hoping that won’t happen again. I have been reading up on all my new plants and gathering lots of useful information that maybe will avert a plant catastrophe.

The first plant is feverfew, which I have only become aware of in the past few years. It currently looks like a mass of parsley, but hopefully it will grow the plant’s characteristic daisy-like flowers in a few months. Feverfew is a pretty interesting plant. It’s been used by herbalists for ages to treat problems from headache to stomach ache to fever (hence the name.) I won’t take any remedy, herbal or otherwise, without my doctor’s OK, but I am curious enough to ask about feverfew during my next checkup, especially if it does work for headaches. I hate taking aspirin or acetaminophen.

It seems to be a very hearty plant, as well. It’s been just over a week since I transplanted it, and it looks like it’s grown at least 25%. I am not sure if credit belongs to all the rain we’ve been having, or the past few days or sunshine, or the Miracle Gro potting soil, or a combination of all those things, but I am really happy with the results.

I am slightly concerned that the pots I used for transplanting aren’t quite big enough to accommodate all this rapid growth. Then again, I only have a limited amount of space available for plants, so maybe I should keep them in the smaller containers to keep them from growing out of control.

Ok, so the next post will be about the next plant: chamomile.