Overwintered perennial herbs

It was time for these perennial herbs to come out of winter hibernation.  They were kept in a covered growing rack (a small greenhouse thing we got for free to review from CSN last year) that we kept outside all winter long.  I didn't look inside the greenhouse at all during the winter, but I'm sure everything stayed frozen in there most of the time.  But a couple of weeks ago, I started seeing bits of green through the vinyl cover, so I knew the perennial herbs survived the long winter.

I started a few sage plants from seeds in the late spring of 2010.  The plant turned dry and gray over the winter, but it's been working hard these last few weeks to put on some new leaves.

Here is a part of the oregano madness that I started in the summer of 2009 from seeds.  I initially grew oregano in the ground, but they grew like monsters, spread out of control and threatened to take over the whole garden last summer.  So I pulled them all out, and just kept a tiny bit of the plant to replant in a small pot.  It looked rather unhappy for a while, and was still looking kind of brown and wilty at the end of last fall.  But it must have gotten over it, because now it's growing lots of new soft green leaves.  Oregano is going to be strictly confined to containers for me from here on out.

Here's a potted thyme, and this one has the same history as the oregano.  They were started from seeds in 2009, but the growth got out of control in the ground, so they were all pulled out except for a small clump of tangled mess that got planted in a container.  After repotting, the thyme looked fairly dead and stayed that way all winter long.  But it looks like it's ready to experience life one more time.  I'm seeing healthy green growth coming out of the woody stems.  I'm wondering if it needs a haircut.

All these pictures were taken right after they came out of the greenhouse.  After going 4-5 months without any water, they now have water and sunshine.  So they should be well on their way to once again being productive members of the edible garden this season.