Apparently true French Tarragon can not be grown from seed. So I thought I would ask here if anyone can give me a cutting or two before I order it from an online company.

Be still my heart.
I didn't know that. So what you're saying is it's cut from an existing plant.... like a sourdough "mother".
I love Tarragon. I use it (regular tarragon) on my salmon every week.
Good luck with that, Dan, and remember my email address in case anyone should bestow l'herbe upon you.

It certainly seems that way. I recently found this out too.
Evidently the other tarragons can be grown from seed but the French, which I think is the best, is only by cuttings.

I'm hoping that somebody local has some. Otherwise I'll buy plants from Territorial Seed Company.

I think Tarragon is touchy. Needs some sort of cool weather? Like Dill? My sister grows it in Menlo Park... no problem

From what I have read about it French Tarragon does benefit from a cool weather period but it is sensitive to more than a very light frost.

It can be grown in partial shade and likes soil 6.5 to 7 ph. It does not like acidic soils. A light foliar feeding of seaweed or compost tea a couple of times during the growing season is all it needs. It is fairly pest and disease free and needs little water once established.

Flowers are sterile but plants can be easily divided by rhizomes or by placing a 6" to 8" cutting in moist sand for a about 4 weeks to allow root development.

I may be wrong, but it sounds like a plant that will be tolerant of the inevitable neglect that I will bestow upon it.

I'll try some. I'm sure my Thrashers will love it, too!

I get mine at Mesquite Valley Growers or from John Swanson at St Phillips Market. No sure if either has any now but I will check. MI know a woman in Sierra Vista who has had the same plant in her yard for years but I end up starting over nearly every year. Call around at the nurseries up there. If I can find it here, surely someone has some. I love French Tarragon to cook with.

I will look here in Las Vegas. We have a new organic nursery so I will go and see if or if they can get it. It will be a gift from Las Vegas to all, you rascals in Arizona that keep inhaling and drawing all the rain your way. LOL....Our local police just raided a vacant home that was a foreclosure. It was a pot house. I spend a bunch of money at the big hydroponic shop about 10 miles down the road. Everything I saw on the raid tape was from that shop. I told the owner he needed to get more middle. "Old", gardeners in there instead of all the Hispanics or the DEA was going to be parked out front. He just laughed. I bet he is not laughing after today's raid. I hope they do not close him down because he has great products and great prices. And the guy arrested was not Hispanic. But what a super nat =opoeration. Everything was perfect. All containers, which were hand made, cut the same shape, very clean and as far as I could see perfect set up. To bad he was growing some illegal. I bet I could grow the "weed" in my garden and no one would ever notice. It looks like Okra...LOL....OK, I have a bad cold and I am going to bed. Welcome SW to Cubits. I am still in between both sites.

Welcome wormslovusharon!

Hey, Sharon, if you want to grow and disguise it, plant it among some little chaste trees.
http://www.johnstonplants.com/... I can't tell you how many people have walked into my yard and asked in conspiratorial whispers, "What are you growing here?"

About the tarragon: I planted some Fr. tarragon in a big hanging container early last year. It was under the patio cover but got a little morning sun. Come summer, it turned to toast - along with every other herb except basil.

I still haven't come across any french tarragon locally so I will order some next week. I did see some french thyme but I didn't buy any. Now I wish I had when I had the chance.

Funny,
I was at summer winds (tatum and bell) today and looking for tarragon seeds.... nothing. I guess that's a clue... they don't thrive here.

I'm going to ask my SIL in Ojai to send me some seeds. Easy Peasy.

Dan, did you ever find French tarragon? I found and bought a small plant at Bakers. Silly me, I put it in the same basket as last year so I may need to get another victim to plant somewhere else. If you'd like, I can pick up one for you and bring it to the swap. They had several varieties of thyme so I could also look for the Fr. thyme while I'm there. Funny thing though, they had no marjoram. But if you wanted any imaginable flavor of mint, I think it was there. I got a beautiful chocolate mint. Gonna try not to kill it...

I found French Tarragon someplace last year and planted it in my shade garden. Much to my surprise, it is growing after going through a winter! I'd offer some, but I worry it would risk the existing plant.

Alma, next time you are there please pick up a French Tarragon and Thyme for me. I'll get them from you at the swap. Thanks!

I'll make a run today, Dan.

Thanks Alma.

Dan, you are in luck! I didn't get to go till today and there was ONE Fr. tarragon left - and it looks better than the one I got. Now, cross your fingers that I can keep it alive and well till the swap. Lots of English thyme, silver thyme, mother of thyme, variegated thyme, etc., etc. but no Fr. thyme.

Cool!! Thanks Alma. :o)