It sure looks like Lovage! Does it smell like celery? That will tell you for sure.

I haven't yet broken a piece off to try. I will the next time I go out.

Glad to hear L. 'Alba' is tough -- I have 6 little plants from a greenhouse sale that I'm placing & planting today. Sometimes I lose one without knowing why also, but I have learned that good drainage in winter is key... make sure to plant them up on a mound if you don't have a spiffy raised bed. :-)

I've got lots of little basil seedlings to fill in gaps... started a couple of varieties that are really more decorative than culinary, and I'll let them flower and seed right away... well, I'll pinch them a few times just to get them bushy.

One of my favorite thymes for that cottage garden feel is definitely 'Rose Petal Thyme', which I picked up at a plant fair several years ago. It has a wonderful rose/herbal scent, and the leaves are softly silver-green, almost a blue cast to them. I've never tried to cook with it, but I'm trying to spread it here and there in the garden. It's a tough one, borders one of my rock-lined pocket gardens (on the outside!) without complaint.

Only ones I've got are L. angustifolia alba and a common rosemary

Newyorkrita said:I used to shear mine. Best early, early spring before they get growing.

Good advice, Rita. I noticed mine is getting overly-woody this season.

Lee Roy, your lavender looks like it will be in bloom any day- nice spot you have for them!

I'm seeing the benefits of shearing them this year. Got a couple of new plants a couple of years ago to replace some that had become woody, and have been good about shearing this time. Much nicer looking plants!

I just bought some Basil today and it doesn't say much on the pot, but I think it will not live over winter in zone 5-6? So, will it seed and come up next year, or will I have to rebuy this every year? Is there a variety that is hardy?

Also the same question about dill.

I am really new to herbs, have never grown them hardly before.

Basil is something I have to buy each year. My dill reseeded last year, though.

Dill will reseed if left to go to head
Basil will produce seeds but the plant is best used before going to seed, If you have more than enough you can let it go to seed and gather the seed . I do not think it will reseed on it's own in your zone . It does not in my garden zone 5 .

Oh and Frilly we do have an herb forum here at ATP , you may get more good information

For the past two years we have been (sort of) growing saffron crocus - Crocus sativus - although so far without seeing so much as a flower, much less any saffron! I thought it would be fun to try to grow our own saffron, so I bought 200 bulbs. They're supposed to be autumn flowering, but last year they all vanished over the summer. This is what they looked like in early February of this year:



Has anyone got any experience of growing saffron crocus? I'm wondering whether perhaps the bulbs were just too small and needed to grow fatter before flowering, or even whether they sent the wrong bulbs...

so how do you harvest the saffron ?

It grows in little threads on the flowers:



You just pick the threads - apparently best done in the morning, then you dry them on paper towels. I know saffron's more of a spice than a herb, but thought the same sort of people might be interested or know about it!

Basil dies out as it is a tender annual. It just can not take any cold. So yes, you have to plant new ones each year. I have never had mine reside even if I messed up and forgot to cut off a seed head.

Really you should cut the forming seed heads and not let the plant flower as it affects the taste.

I start my Dill from seeds I bought each spring as I don't get much reseeding. In fact I need to start my Dill and Cilantro soon.

I started my Basil seedlings here inside right after I started my tomato seedlings. Wow, that Basil sure does grow slowly!!

Basil I am growing.

I've got several kinds of basil started on the light shelf here, too. I pinch and harvest until August, then let them make seeds for next year. (I pick the seed heads, dry them, and rub them out of their little calicys -- calixes? pods? LOL.)

I'm going to harvest from just half my "Hot & Spicy" this year and let the rest start going to seed right away (well, I'll pinch a few times to branch them out) to be sure of having a good supply of seed to share for next year. This is a really great culinary variety that came from a friend of a friend of a friend... the packet was marked "Goree Island, Senegal." It has small, pointed leaves and tastes like Thai basil with a major peppery kick. Flowers are white, not especially showy, but bees still love them.

I've started some of the Italian basil a friend of mine smuggled back from Italy years ago, and another milder variety of Genovese basil, 'Martina' (fun bec. my neighbor and gardening friend is named Martina). I also started Mrs Burns' Lemon, Lime, Amethyst (purple leaf), and Holy Basil. I sowed Blue Spice, too, but it didn't germinate... have to look for a newer packet of seed (I've been saving this one for years, just grabbed the first pack I found and I bet it was an old one).

Wow, your really set on Basil!

basil is so pricey at the store.

I never buy fresh basil. Have fresh in season from the garden or otherwise it is the dried spice kind.

I have a couple of more "ornamental" (grown for flowers rather than for the kitchen) basils to start yet, if I get to them... I definitely need to start some Thai 'Siam Queen', for the gorgeous flowerheads as well as the tasty leaves!

I do get a little obsessed about basil... so many fun kinds to try! I like growing different thymes, too... there are a lot of scent/flavor/color/texture variations there, especially among the various "creeping" thymes.

I experimented for a while with some of the fancy mint hybrids from Jim Westerfield, but I lost most of them (in pots) one year and have pretty much just stuck with Chocolate Peppermint and Kentucky Colonel Spearmint now... although I think there's still some variegated pineapple mint running around in another spot.

Mika, I planted a few saffron crocus corms in early fall 2014. A few bloomed that same autumn and afterword the foliage grew and was soon eaten by rabbits I suspect. Only a couple bloomed last fall but all developed thick foliage, that this time around was not bothered by critters. I'm hoping this means I'll see a decent showing of them this fall. Considering the lack of blooms we both noted, I'm wondering if they just need a couple of years to settle in the garden? We'll have to compare notes this fall