Over the past few months I have fallen in love with my lemon verbena plant. It has been strong and happy in the planter boxes outside. I have also loved my parsley and oregano, but haven’t used them much since it has been too hot at times to cook. Over the winter it would be so nice to have fresh herbs  for soups and pasta sauces so I decided to try something new (for me) and keep these herbs in pots inside over the winter.

Knowing my track record for indoor plants, I’m a little nervous, but they will die if I leave them outside so why not take the chance? So I got some new pots at Ikea.

The small side-striped one is for the little spider plant that has stayed   alive for years by sheer force of its own will and a very occasional   watering from me. The largest pot is for the lemon verbena and the   medium two are for the oregano and parsley. The pots are slightly small   for the plants, but I really don’t have much space for them inside (and   just need to keep them alive, not encourage them to grow).

The only problem with the pots is that they don’t have holes in the   bottom (which I think makes them the first pots I have ever bought   without holes for drainage).  To counter the lack of drainage I put in a   small layer of rocks on the bottom before adding potting soil.

Elizabeth had great fun helping me did them up (and most of the remaining chives, and new baby strawberry plants, and pretty much anything else she could dig up).

And here they are in their pretty green and white splendor:

  Shortly putting them against that wall of the dining room we learned that lemon verbena is better than catnip for our cats and they proceeded to alternately make-out with and maul the kitchen mat.  (We did check and all of these herbs are not poisonous to cats, just very exciting).

  And here is the saddest little spider plant. It actually had more leaves when I first potted it, but one of the cats decided to trim it back for me. Between me and the cats I am starting to worry already.

~Krista