Planting the Herb Gardens

Our rained-out Master Gardener class was rescheduled for today. I had to work last night, but who needs sleep? I just threw a change of clothing and my garden tools in my car and went straight from work to Davidson Mill Pond Park. I also (finally!) remembered to bring my camera. Judging from the results, I probably should have left it at home. I was obviously too tired to take decent pictures.

This is a new location for the Master Gardener program in Middlesex County. There was an existing building on the property, actually a house, that is now being used by the Master Gardeners. Another prefab building was erected next door for the Extension program. You can see it in the background:

The barrels were planted by Master Gardeners. They are scattered around the area. I love this rhododendron bush:
This is the veggie bed that I helped weed two weeks ago. It measures 100' x 100' inside the fence. They are also now planting around the perimeter of the fence.
And finally the herb beds. They are arranged in concentric circles and called Circle of Thyme. My bed is the center one.
This is what it looked like when I arrived this morning before my partner and I weeded it. In the background is a better view of the prefab building. Our classes were held there. It is very poorly insulated and set on a slab. We froze all winter in the classroom!
And this is our bed after it was weeded and planted. It looks very sparse but we have some stuff in there that will get HUGE! Our theme is "Herbs with a Purple Passion".
No matter which way I rotate this picture, it makes me seasick. Very poorly framed. The theme of this bed is "Sage Advice". It is planted with varieties of sage. The theme for this bed is "For a Stomachache, These Herbs You Take". Sorry, I don't know what is planted here. They will be publishing the plant lists for each bed soon.
So far this is my favorite bed. The theme is "By the Light of the Silvery Moon". They don't show up well in this picture, but all the plants have silvery gray foliage. It's really beautiful.
There were two other beds being planted while I was there, but I left before they were finished. They were "Witch's Brew" and "A Monastic Apothecary - The Monks' Medicine Chest".

The highlight of the day for me was this mother duck who has made her nest behind the Master Gardeners' building. It's in a great spot between the basement doors and a bunch of plants in pots. Until the plants get moved, that is!