Sages and Cages

I don’t know much about plants or gardening, but I’ve become more interested since I’ve started TRYING to grow a few vegetables, flowers, and trees on our lot in southern Colorado.  I’ve been fighting clay soil, drought, rabbits, deer, and ignorance, but I’m starting to find a few plants that seem to do OK for me.  I want to use this blog to document what works and what doesn't, take note of things I need to remember, and keep track of plants I want to try (or try again).

One thing I've discovered is that plants in the sage family WORK for me.  I have a beautiful Mojave sage, several bunches of Russian sage, and a couple tri-color sage plants that are new this year but are doing quite well.  Rabbits don't bother them, and they're pretty!  

Speaking of rabbits - that's an ongoing battle!  But we may have a solution to that problem finally.  Bob created some neat little round fences out of rabbit wire that I put directly over each plant.  It's a much neater look and works better than the chicken wire fence around the whole flower bed.

I'm thinking about getting a few more tri-color sage plants for the north bed.  It's just an ornamental, but apparently you CAN use it for cooking if desired.  Interestingly enough, it can be used as organic ant-control.  I guess they don't like the smell!  One article I read said to divide the plants every three years or so "to keep them vigorous."  So that would be in 2015 for the first two I put in.