 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. Today we return to the Arboretum at Flagstaff, located at 7,150 feet above sea level. I spent some time at the High Mountain Herb Display with environmental educator Wade Albrecht. Wade, I see you've got the shoy milkweed here. That's one I didn't expect to find in an herbal garden. It's a fine specimen to use up here in Northern Arizona for a variety of reasons. One of the main things I like it for is that it attracts a lot of insects and butterflies into a garden. And if you zoom in on this, you'll see that there's a number of species that you could locate. Some of them are very tiny, but they all are driving or utilizing this plant as a food source. And in fact, this plant also provides a niche for the monarch butterfly, superb habitat, food source. It lays its eggs on it, and oftentimes in the late summer or early autumn you might find a chrysalis on there. I've always thought of milkweed as a very invasive plant. I notice you've got it here with a mint, which is also invasive. Purposeful intent in our design here, because mint actually has the capacity to almost out-compete any other plant in the herb garden. It looks like a milkweed does pretty well, though. It fights on its own pretty well. Right, right. Which mint is this? This is peppermint, and peppermint has a lot of uses within the household, including herbal teas and, of course, potpouris and just a wonderfully fragrant plant to have in the garden. And one of the characteristics of this plant, should you be in doubt as to if you have a mint on your hands, is to grab the stem and kind of just roll it. And if it's square, if it has four sides, you probably have a mint. I notice right next to it here you've got marjoram. That's another plant in the mint family. Yes, it's a wonderful plant to have, particularly along the borders of your herb garden, or in a rock garden type capacity. The form of this plant, you can see it has a nice mounding effect, very dense growth habit, a terrific plant to have right up front in your herb garden. And it's just a wonderful culinary plant that should be a staple in everybody's kitchen. And I see you have some other bright plants right over here. Yes, we've got a ceremonial plant by the name of Maltese Cross here, but more importantly we included this in our herb garden for color. And the red color of this flower attracts hummingbirds as well as a number of other birds and insects to the garden too. I bet the hummingbirds really do like that, but I see you've got a lot of other colors here. Yes, we have a lot of yellows and blues in this garden as well. I really do like those blue flowers that you've got. This is Clary Sage, and Clary Sage is a plant that is problematic in some parts of the country, but as you can see it's in the southwest. It can be a beautiful inclusion into any herb garden and can be controlled. So people should really know about the plants they put in their gardens. Right. You know I saw a plant in here that's one of the most petable plants in the garden. One of my favorites as well. Let's go see it. In the garden there are plants to look at. Occasionally there are plants to touch. We have to affect all the senses in an herb garden. This one definitely is tactile. Yeah, it's a terrific plant for color, touch, and visuals I think along borders, in rock gardens. It has many applications. And then another thing we just learned while ago, it has a square stem. What family might that be? Must be a mint. Wait, thank you so much. You're welcome, Curtis. It's a great tour of this herb garden. Glad you enjoyed it. The preceding was a production of New Mexico State University. The views and opinions in this program are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the NMSU Board of Regents.