First is the Lavender Lady Passion Flower vine (Passiflora x Amethyst). The gorgeous flowers were totally irresistible. I knew my husband would love how unusual they are, so it was an easy choice. I will be planting this either in the veggie garden on a trellis or in a pot to grow on a trellis on the shed.
I've wanted Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) ever since reading about it in California Gardener Magazine. It was tough to find, but an herb booth at the show had tons of hard-to-find plants, and I was so happy to bring one home! This is the newest fad in sweeteners and the leaves taste like candy. I'm planning to dry it to add to tea mixes. Unfortunately I broke a stem of it during planting, so I'm hoping it survives.
I bought a Thompson Seedless grape vine (Vitis vinifera), for which my sweet husband is going to build a trellis. I can't wait to be able to pick my own grapes from the backyard!
This new Petite Plum Dwarf Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii nanhoensis 'Monum') will probably go into the veggie garden. I have another possible location for it among some roses, but with our long growing season, I'm afraid it might get too large for that space, even though it is a dwarf variety.
I've been wanting to add scented geranium to the herb garden area and this one had such sweet little flowers. It is Peacock Scented (Pelargonium cv.). Things are starting to get pretty crowded in there, so I might have to keep it cut back, but I just couldn't resist.
This lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla) may end up in the front yard planter as part of a bee and butterfly garden that I'm starting to create, but I haven't decided yet. It will be a big part of the tea-making process and I love to run my hands through it for the fabulous fragrance.
Lime Thyme will be heading into the veggie garden and is such a lovely color. I saw this plant first at Plant Life, a blog I've enjoyed visiting.
Perhaps you know that I'm not exactly the most successful potted plant gardener. I am too lazy about watering to keep potted plants alive. However, I seem to fall prey to pots every year and this year I chose this beautiful Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis) plant as my first victim. I really hope to keep it watered, especially since Bay can be cut into a topiary and I'm planning to make a short little ball out of it. The leaves can be picked in the morning and placed under a weight. By dinnertime, they leaves are dry and ready to be used in recipes!
And finally, the plant about which I am most excited. Green Tea (Camellia Sinensis) is the tea plant! I had been planning to order a plant online, but there was a tea exhibit at the show and the Arboretum's booth was selling the plant. I was surprised to find out that the tea plant is in the camellia family, which makes it perfect for my partially shaded Heuchera garden where I already have three azaleas and a camellia japonica growing. The great thing about that mixture is that Camellias and Azaleas are both acid loving, so they should live together fairly harmoniously.Although not pictured, I also got 6 Casablanca Lily bulbs in the ground and I hope to see them bloom by late summer. Whew! For not planning on buying much, I sure came home with plenty...hooray!
I started with our lovely chamomile plant that bloomed beautifully this year.
I cut it back to about 8 or 10 inches tall and then bundled the bouquet and hung it to dry.
After about a week, I clipped off the dried flowers from the stems.
I had to separate the stems out one by one, which leads me to think that it might be easier next time to bundle them more evenly so that I can cut straight across and have less stems to pick out. 
Ta da! Tea in a container. A teaspoon per cup is enough for a medium-strength tea. I'm sincerely hoping for another harvest this year, but with my love of chamomile tea, I think I'll need to plant a few more plants next year. Once I try the straight tea, I'm going to try adding some of the other dried herbs to create a fun blend. More on that another day!
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