What herbs do you grow?

Only the best . . .



No not really. I wouldnt consider it an herb but I love growing tomatoes. I also love growing the echinacea plant.

- Al

What is that Anak?

I grow horsetail and Vietnamese basil on my balcony.

Our home's previous owners planted a produce department in the back yard-- orange, plum, almond, fig, apricot, peach, green apple, and pomegranate. There was a pear that died, and we have added a Mexican lime and a blood orange tree. The almond is actually starting to break buds, probably due to the hot spell we had recently. It's taller than the first story of the house and my goal is to take about four or five feet off some weekend soon. I topped the fig last year, taking off six feet, but it looks bigger than ever. The orange, peach, apple, and pomegranate are dwarf varieties that maintain easily. The plum will get a good pruning this year too. The apricot is HUGE. Even with an eight foot ladder there's fruit every year that I can't reach. I have friends who like to make preserves and I've told them, "Just come and get 'em. Don't bother to call; no need to even knock. Just help me keep them off the ground!" Pruning and fertilizing is about to keep me very, very busy in the coming weeks.

I'm also growing lavender, which is surviving winter nicely. Come spring the spearmint (confined to a pot four feet off the ground), chives, and sage will rebound, and I'll plant more sweet basil and Thai basil. The chives are everywhere. The previous owners had planted some around the rose bushes (they're rumored to somehow control aphids, but I haven't seen any proof of that) and I moved a clump of bulbs (read: dumped into some soil, covered with a handful of dirt, and said, "Good luck!") to another part of the yard where they now flourish as well. I wish I'd realized how easily they propagate and how difficult they are to eradicate. I think that's about it.

Since I love to cook I grow quite a few herbs. my dog likes to eat them too. I grow rosemary, oregano, 3 different types of thyme. sage, basil, peppermint, spearmint, cat mint, flat leaf and curly parsley, garlic chives, chives, garlic, lemongrass, cilantro, nasturtiums, lavender, chamomile and dill.

I love to garden. My area is Zone 3 so many things that are perennials for you folks to the south are annuals here. I've brought in my lavender and rosemary plants, which are now getting quite leggy in the weak winter window light. But they still smell so aromatic when I snip them. Has anyone tried lavender lemonade? It's terrific! I just simmer some of the leaves in water for a half hour, let that water cool and use it to make lemonade (frozen concentrate or from scratch). It adds a marvelous fragrant dimension to the drink.
In the summer, basil is a must. Along with my carefully-nutured and early-ripening tomatoes, I have a feast.
I am hopeful that two aromatic bushes will survive the winter. One is called "Sixteen Candles" and has a scent somewhat like fougere. The other is mock orange and has a neroli-like smell. I want to try growing fresh sage this year, the leaves have have a beautiful scent which I'm convinced is an ingredient in Mugler Cologne (my own wild theory!).
I sure look forward to the spring. Still lots of snow here.

We just moved into this house in August so I have no herbs here, but I'm looking forward to doing some planting in the spring, which comes early to Virginia (yay!). At my last house I grew lavender, rosemary, sage, thyme, chives, oregano, and mints as perennials. Most of these seemed to thrive on neglect. I always had a hard time with tarragon, though - it just would not establish itself in my herb garden. I used to make flavored vinegars with the herbs. The chive blossoms are especially pretty to add to a bottle of white wine vinegar. They give the vinegar a pink hue and a nice flavor. I'm trying to find the best spot in our new back yard for the herb garden. We've planted some trees that will grow taller (hopefully) and I don't want to shade the herbs. I'll plant my old successful favorites this spring, and I'll probably add some bee balm or some other bee attracting plants.


That sounds great! I love lavender as a culinary herb.



This is what I want to do around the foundation of the house and in the front yard, plant flowers and shrubs that are native to the area so I don't have to be a slave to keeping them alive.

I saw a beautiful camellia in downtown Richmond at the Edgar Allen Poe musuem a few weeks ago...it's called Yuletide Camellia because it blooms around Christmas/Soltice. It has bright red blossoms with yellow centers. It looked so cheery in their courtyard garden. I'm going to put one of those in too, though last fall would have been better to get the roots established.

Several varieties of tomatoes (these are not herbs!) my favorite being Sprite.
Japanese purple eggplants, (thise are not herbs either) that the squirrels get before I can every time.
Strawberries (I never thought of them as herbs)
And
Dill (which never does well for me)
Cilantro (which doesn't so much grow as simply expire within days of planting
Rosemary (which grows happily)
Parsley
Basil
Mints
Thymes (in various types)
Oregano
Marjoram
Sage

If you're name wasnt SoCal woman I'd actually answer you.

Puff on babe!

- Ali

Echinacea is exceptionally easy to grow, looks beautiful, and one can easily use the plant to make tinctures and reap the benefits of echinacea. I haven't had the common cold/flu in years.

- Al

We do the easy ones.
Basil, rosemary and cherry tomatoes.
odysseusm the lavender lemonade sounds like something I've got to try once I'm in lemonade making season in the summer.
Hard to envision any of this with all of this frozen slush around me at the moment.

I have lots of fruit trees: apricots, peaches, plums, apples, sour cherries. We are due for a good crop this year, last year what blossoms didn't freeze were knocked off by the wind. I've tried planting herbs in pots but haven't had luck yet. I have a mint plant I keep in a pot in my sun room, just for the very rare mojito I guess because I never cook with it, although when I cut it back I dry it and keep it just in case I might want to use it one day. I should just buy a big basil plant, it's my favorite herb to cook with.

I haven't made much time for gardening in the last few years. However, we have rosemary plants in the ground and lavender in pots. Each spring, we do some pots of things we like for cooking - usually Italian parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, marjoram, and sometimes San Marzano tomatoes.

We have two Satsuma mandarin trees, a Meyer lemon, and a kumquat or loquat (never remember which!) in tubs on the deck. And, in the ground, an apple, a plum, a persimmon that doesn't fruit, several wine grape plants left to their own devices, and a dead fig tree that needs to be removed.

It's a little wild at our place right now. Good bird habitat!

Living in South Florida, my herbs doing great this time of the year. I have 2 beds and have the following:


Sage
Thyme
Dill
Arugula
Oregano (the one that the leaves are fuzzy and green and white, we call it Cuban oregano)
Fennel (don't use it much but great for butterflies)
Parsley (Italian and curly)
Basil (regular and purple) - the cold temperatures from about a week ago fried the regular one so I had to recut it down.
Cilantro (both the flat leaf kind called culantro and the regular one)
Scotch Bonnet Peppers
Grape Tomatoes
Plum Tomatoes

Year-round:

Rosemary
Lemon Grass

Fruit bearing trees: Mangoes, avocados, and banana trees.

The only herb I grow is mint for my mojitos. (not sure, but I think it might be spearmint )

Echinacea/coneflower is easy to grow from seedlings, but not quite as easy to grow from seed. If you do try to grow from seed, you should subject the seeds to a period of cold by mixing them into damp sand in a Ziplock bag and placing it in the refrigerator for a month or two. The process is called seed stratification and helps germinate most hard shell and prairie forb seeds. (Apologies if this is old news to you).




As for herbs, I usually grow:

• Lavender (about 50% success in overwintering here in western Missouri)
• Rosemary (have to treat as a annual)
• Basil (start from seed in March; usually have a 30 ft row)
• Dill (sow EARLY)
• Coriander (sow late)
• Thyme
• Sage
• Fennel
• Oregano
• Artemesia
• Salvia elegans/pineapple sage
• Chives
• Angelica
• Rue
• Verbena
• Yarrow
• Santolina
• Borage (this is cool stuff - highly recommended!)

I like herbs. A LOT.

None yet, but i'd love to grow mint, spearmint and basil. maybe some oregano too.

Rosemary, which is thriving once I figured out it only likes a southern aspect.
Spearmint for iced tea
And my pampered Meyer lemon tree which is only about 5 feet tall, but produced over 50 huge lemons last month. I felt like a proud Mama!

I used to grow a lot more, but when fire ants invaded the bed I was using, I lost them all. And my over-zealous nephew used so much ant poison he turned my poor bed into another Love Canal. Come summer I will need to remove and replace all the soil & start my herb garden over.

I brought my lavender inside. The leaves are getting very leggy and tender, a result of the weak light. When I transition it back outside, I'll need to gradually acclimatize the plant to stronger light. This is the first year I'm trying this, I hope it works.

In the summer I grow herbs on our balcony, usually basil, sage, rosemary, tarragon, thyme, marjoram... depending on what's available. Rosemary survives the winter inside, but others don't.