Cleaning up the herb bed

Thank you to friends Dona and Nancy who spent a couple of hours saturday morning cleaning up the herb bed. Actually, I have two herb beds side by side enclosed by boxwood hedges. The boxwood is threatening to take over the entire area so I will have to be ruthless with the clippers this year and trim it back hard. There are mostly perennial culinary herbs in the beds, including sage, thyme, tarragon, oregano, mint, and chives, but there is also a fragrant lavender plant, velvety lambs ear, silvery santolina, and grey green nepeta. The nepeta, aka catnip, is beautiful in the spring, filled with tiny bright blue flowers, but it also attracts the neighborhood cats who get high from rolling in its scented leaves. Rosemary is not usually winter hardy on Long Island, but I see some new growth on my only plant and there is a chance it may have survived. I will purchase some new rosemary plants to fill in the area around it. There is a rue (ruta graveolens) nestled into the corner of the back bed. I planted it because I like the look of its small blueish leaves, but rue is poisonous if eaten and I am going to remove it now that others will be picking from the bed. I have started cilantro seeds in the greenhouse and will also seed parsley, basil, and dill, herbs that no kitchen garden should do without. I ordered a new herb this year called stevia. According to information on the seed packet, stevia is nature's sweet secret. Used in Japan since the 1970's, Stevia extracts are 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia is low in calories and has been approved by the FDA as a dietary supplement. I'm thinking the leaves might be useful for sweetening iced tea, but we'll have to wait and see. There is nothing better than being in the middle of the herb bed, brushing up against the fragrant plants. It is an exercise in meditation and therapy for the soul.