Dead trees and a smorgasbord of mints

My Acer died. I'm pretty gutted. It was a really beautiful small tree (3 feet ish) with the most elegant structure and such lovely changing shades of leaf. It has been living in the inside left corner of the balcony - the most sheltered spot possible, as it didn't like to be blown around too much. Maybe it is the wind that got it, in the end. Or the January snow I wasn't here to clear. Or too much water. Too little? Or just old age. Perhaps the grape hyacinths planted around the base strangled it. There was no drama, no visible disease, it just didn't come back to life this year. Gently it went into that good night.

It was nearly as old as me. And that is pretty old. My mum gave it to me a few years back when she was garden-less for a time, and I can see it, in my minds eye, in all of the (many!) gardens we had through my childhood. A very familiar old friend. Mum assures me that it had a great innings, especially considering its been in the same pot forever. Can't help feeling a bit guilty though, killing someone else's plant. RIP.

On the plus side though, it'll free up a big pot for something new. Heartless. But true. Carrots perhaps..?

Bound for smaller pots, at least for the moment, are these lush new herbs:

I picked them up from the lovely folks at the Herbal Haven stand at last weekends London Green Fair. They were extremely bargainous and are all lovely, healthy looking little buddies.

So - to formal introductions, clockwise from top left, we have: greek basil (a surprising sturdy little bush of a plant), tarragon (which I want to cook with more), dill (ditto with the cooking), chocolate mint (very excited about this one! It'll be heading for an ice cream maker this summer), lemon thyme (I think. Can't actually remember what this one is and it's label-less... Any confirmations/contradictions welcome) and spearmint, (about which I have nothing extra to say. Sorry spearmint.)

It is probably just as well I only have a balcony. If I had a full size garden I would spend every penny I have on plants. I could have easily bought another 20 herbs from the Herbal Haven guys. It was so exciting to see such an incredible variety of herbs! This is probably less than half of their mint section:

Pretty cool huh.

I await the day when I have an entire section of an enormous herb garden dedicated to mint. Until then, I will tend my little collection of pots with a near smothering degree of attention. And dream of more space...