Oregano will return,

peppermint will return

Cilantro never slowed down. Variety 'Confetti'

Goriza Rosemary half died

Rootbeer plant dormant, Piper Auritum.

Garlic chives will return, tho I need to thin 2/3 of them out.

My winter sky at 72* today, thru a bougainvillea experiment, chuckl. Will it live?

I have my cilantro, thyme and parsley in the basement under a grow light. We'll see how they do. Everything else is outside and dormant. I would like some snow for their protection as temps are in the 30's. Hoping we don't get the deep freeze again.

I cut the turks cap canes down and decided to replace the rosemary - it was really not much alive - so cut it down and fed it to a small fire, along with the dead basils, asparagus canes, pepper plant stems, and root beer plant canes.
The thymes are doing great, but the Bouquet dill is so much rot, the fern leaf dill came thru fine. Only lost maybe 5 small green onions, and just planted more. Will see if they set roots before next freeze, chuckl.

Thanks Kat! I have a huge blue pot planted with a large lemon verbena surrounded with peppermint, pineapple sage, lavender, and sweet marjoram.
I know that I'll have to cut out some of the peppermint but for now it's all so pretty!

Deeby ~ Gotta picture? That sounds lovely.

Pineapple sage, I have found, for my area anyway, grows best in a pot or raised bed. It just doesn't like our mucky clay soil in winter.
I had one for a couple of years, and then planted it in the ground...bye, bye!

I think oregano should be in a pot for a different reason. It is like mint. It gets deep-rooted and likes to spread. I had a time digging it all out. Now I want to grow it again. I probably could plant it in an out of the way area, where it doesn't matter how wide it spreads, instead it of fussing with a pot to keep it watered. When it is in the ground, the only maintenance required is cutting back the old dried stems. It is probably deer-resistant, due to its fragrance and being in the mint family.

My rosemary plants are over 30 years old. I trim them now and then. I usually deep-water them once or twice during the summer, though I may have missed them last year.

Beautiful huge blooms on my Cardinal basil. It's tasty, too. This plant is well into it's 3rd year of life and is 4ft tall with trunks the size of my thumb. (yes, I'm starting new cuttings of it) We've had some really cold weather for Florida this winter, so it's living in the hoop house area with my tomatoes and peppers.

Cardinal is a pretty variety! Good to know it tastes good, too.

Time to think about seeds for this year's garden! Finally, I have the time/energy to do some seed starting. Only problem is that many of my seeds are too old. Shoe suggested a soak in a weak nitrogen solution (I'm thinking a bit of Miracle Gro?) might wake them up.

Really hoping I haven't lost my "Hot & Spicy" basil from Goree Island... not commercially available, it's a variety I grew for years starting with a few seeds passed along through a friend. It's a thai basil, but it has a peppery kick, very much like the difference between regular greek basil and 'Hot & Spicy' greek basil.

If anybody is growing that one, PLMK! I sent out hundreds of packets at one point..

I'm also thinking of sowing a tray of ground cover thyme, maybe Mother of Thyme, something low growing I can do from seed. Suggestions?

Thyme likes it cool, there are elf thymes as well, but do you need it to be an aromatic? Several varieties of oregano available would do same thing.

Jill, I have success with Thymus 'Pink Chintz' but couldn't find any seeds just now with a quick and admittedly incomplete search. The peak of their bloom isn't super long, but it's impressive.

I appreciate those recommendations! As a border, I like the tiny leaves of low-growing thymes. Beautiful photo of 'Pink Chintz'!

Jill, you don't have to start basil from seed each year. If you find your hot, spicy one that you like, just take cuttings of it before the first frost, and keep them on the windowsill through the winter. It's actually a better way to make sure you keep the same variety year to year, too. Seeds may not come true if you grow any other basils, right?

I did start my Cardinal basil from seed years ago, but have kept it going with cuttings ever since - couldn't find the seeds the year after I got it, so did cuttings.

We also do this at my daughter's house in Utah - she has nice big, south-facing windows and uses basil leaves from the cuttings all winter because they grow nicely. Then grow them into big plants over the summer, and take cuttings in September and October again.

Good tip, Elaine. Especially if my basils are close together, I try to save seeds one variety at a time -- let one bloom and start to set seeds, then let the next variety bloom, and pinch all other blooms.

I wasn't able to do much gardening for a number of years, and that's why my seed stash has largely aged out. There are a few things I've grown that I'd especially miss if I lost them.

dyzzypyxxy said: Beautiful huge blooms on my Cardinal basil. It's tasty, too. This plant is well into it's 3rd year of life and is 4ft tall with trunks the size of my thumb. (yes, I'm starting new cuttings of it) We've had some really cold weather for Florida this winter, so it's living in the hoop house area with my tomatoes and peppers.

I'll have to look for that! 😍

That is a lovely basil.

I am curious to hear opinions from anyone growing rosemary.

I had two large pots that I lost this past winter when we had a fast and hard freeze. This past weekend I picked up a new plant and am surprised to feel how fleshy the foliage is. On both of the old plants, the foliage was coarse and tough. I wonder if I grow them too hard. Not as much water, hot summer sun, cold winters with no protection. Is the new plant fleshy as it is young? A different type? Any thoughts?

Interrupted? Can't wait to hear the rest, Kristi! 😆

NMoasis said: Interrupted? Can't wait to hear the rest, Kristi! 😆

Sadly yes. My fingers are faster than the brain this evening. I did edit hopefully.

Different rosemary has different types of needles. I lost a Goriza, it had a sparse, long needle that was kinda fatter than say, the short tough needles of a groundcover rosemary. The Goriza grew upright, and I believe most of the culinary ones do grow upright. The Arp rosemary is supposed to be the most fragrant.

You might be into something. The two I lost were the low growing or prostrate. I will have to see if I recorded their type. The one I picked up is a no name but upright.

I'm not entirely certain what you mean by fleshy, but yes, I've found young plants and newer growth to be softer and more flexible than mature growth. And also, as Kat said, different varieties can be quite different. My six-foot Arp has stiff and coarse older growth. Spring growth is softer. It's been inground for about 10 years in conditions like you describe. Has never been knocked back by freezes but is in a somewhat protected spot by a fence.