Storytime!! I sort of have a love affair with clematis. It's one of those really nice memories. When I was a little girl we lived in a tiny L-shaped house on rural route 2. We had a really nice back yard and since I was an outdoor girl I spent a great deal of time out there playing with my twin brothers under the Hickory Nut tree. Little Sis didn't come along for several years so it was just the 3 of us for awhile. Mom's kitchen window faced out toward the backyard and right by the kitchen window was the brick chimney. In the corner between the chimney and the house was a flower that my Mom really liked. Yep, you guessed it - a Clematis, purple to be exact. My daddy was a smoker at the time and back then smoking was the "in thing" the "cool thing" and to be fair, one of the few vices people who didn't have a whole lot could even afford to have. I remember my hero in his blue work pants, white tank T-shirt and his perfect Elvis-style hair (and every hair in place too) coming outside to work and whenever he wanted to light up and the wind was blowing he'd go to the corner with the Purple Clematis and light his cigarette. Isn't it odd the things we remember? I couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 but that is burnt into my brain. The strangest part is that I remember the Purple Clematis!! Memories are amazing!!!
As you all have read on my blog, most of the lavender in my garden died this year so I'm harvesting what I can. I've old lavender boxed up in the basement for sleep pillows and such but I like to harvest each year fresh herbs when I can. Below are pics of how I dry lavender. Most of my herbs are dried this way or on a drying rack which I will show to you in a later post.