The mints I showed before, in Part 1, aren’t the only ones in the raised bed. I didn’t buy a couple that didn’t really appeal to me last year (Banana Mint and Grapefruit Mint) but here are the others I did get. I just like having them around to smell. In addition, I planted  in a perennial bed one plant of a hardy mint which I am calling Alaska Mint. (It is probably Mentha avensis or Mentha canadensis.) It is trying to crowd out the perennials, though right now of course it is not as large as the transplants.

One of my favorite uses for mint is to chop the leaves fine and add them to unflavored Greek yogurt along with honey, walnuts and a bit of lemon juice.

This time I’m using a slide show; click on any small image to get to the show.

And the first rose of summer, photographed June 3. This is a wild rose, of the kind that makes up the undergrowth of our birch-aspen forests. I’ve never succeeded in transplanting one, but they sucker like mad and do their best to spread from the birch forest to the lawn.

Alaska Wild Rose

Alaska Wild Rose