MINT! OMG so much mint. I’m THRILLED to see how much this little embankment of mint has filled in this season. In the photo above you can see the large knee high mint patch, then a rock and flowering lavender, with hollyhocks behind. In the next photo you can see how it looked 2 years ago when we had just planted it; the hollyhocks were only tiny little seedlings that had been moved around a bunch and we had not expected to survive. The wildflowers we had originally planted there were moved to another part of the yard and replaced with more lavenders, which are now flowering and starting to fill in, along with the ferns we uncovered there when we cut back the juniper.

The mint is already dense and tall so I snipped out a couple handfuls. There are a few different types growing there including spearmint, peppermint and mojito mint, with the spearmint being the most prolific. There might also still be chocolate mint in there, but I don’t see much of it. I was also able to harvest a large bundle of mullein leaves so I’ll be able to make more smoke blend this year. These mullein all came up on their own this year from seeds dropped 2 seasons ago in the lower yard. I love it when plants come back!! This whole embankment is looking really good now, and even has poppies flowering that look pretty incredible. We also have lots of bees and other pollinators buzzing around the garden which makes me really happy.