Photo Contest: Culinary Herbs in the Garden
Photo #1: Our herb garden is planted at the front of our southwest perennial border and consists of Thyme (Thymus ‘Aureus’), Purple Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurea’), Onion Chives (Allium schoenoprasum), Green Sage (Salvia officinalis), Oregano (Origanum vulgare) and Cilantro (Coriandrum). We love cilantro on salads, in burritos, Cilantro Lime Rice, but my absolute favorite is Cilantro Pesto Grilled Shrimp on the BBQ.
My New York designer friend and blogger for Garden Bytes from the Big Apple, Ellen Zachos, invited me to enter their blog’s first photo contest Blue Ribbon Herbs. So take out your camera and snap a few photos of your favorite herbs. You might just win a special something. Below are the rules, but be sure to check out her blog for prize info and photo ideas.
THE RULES:
1) You may enter up to three photographs.
2) Include the names for the herb(s) in your image; extra credit if you give both the botanical and common names.
3) Write a brief caption (1 or 2 sentences) telling us your favorite way to use the herb in cooking.
4) Points given for light, composition, and originality. We’re not looking for closeups; we want to see the herb(s) in a garden setting.
5) Remember, gardens can be indoors OR outdoors! This is NYC after all, and we don’t all have outdoor gardens of our own.
6) We’re not limiting this contest to New York City gardens because we have so many readers from away, but extra points will be given to photos showing herbs in an urban setting.
7) The contest ends at midnight on August 5, 2009.
Photo #2: Baked potatoes are naked without the fresh snipped chives from our garden. Chives also add much needed taste to low-fat cottage cheese. Add some fresh ground pepper and you’ve got yourself a low-fab dip for your veggie crudites.
Photo #3: Purple Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurea’) has to be one of my favorite herbs to grow, not for its culinary use, but for its display of purple, grey-green foliage that offers a contrasting hue to the sea of green foliage.
How come my chives never look that perky and beautiful? They’ve never flowered, and they almost always grow really long and flop over.
Really Fern? Man, I thought chives were the easiest thing to grow. Where do you have them planted?
I don’t particularly love the taste of garlic chives, but they sure are cute.
Sent from my iPhone
Lovely herb garden. I’m envious of the purple sage and your chives look so beautiful and healthy.
Thanks for the nice compliments Nova. The garden has changed since that picture…a soon to be squash patch!
Please help me to make an interested herbal garden. The one above looks great and would like to know how to put one like that together.
Laurie,
Thank you for you interest in creating an herb garden, they are so rewarding in more ways than one. They look great with so many different textures, they’re aromatic, and you save money by cooking with your homegrown, fresh herbs!
Shoot me some specific questions that you may have, you can find my contact info on my About Us page. In the mean time, here is another Nest In Style article about growing herbs: Herb Gardens for the Tabletop