Anyone here love Herbs - Whats your Fav Herbs?

[Rink]

I am a serious herb nut, LOVE Monarda didyma, Rosemary and hyssop (hyssoppus officinalis) and corsican mint.

Whats your fav herbs?

I have had a lot of mint varieties, one thing, they're ALL invasive types, last I heard there was 700+ varieties.

Love lemon balm, lemon verbena, thymes of all kinds, lavenders of all kinds

I have to date lavender vera; lavender spica; lavender 'irene doyle' ; lavender munstead; and a new one I need to go find the name again but it has very big puffy purple flowers on the stems.

*sighs* i planted Santolina Chamaecyparrissus (Yellow button flower) and it just LOVES this killer yard i have.

(I tried planting roses in this yard and the yard killed the roses and nearly killed the rhododendrons. Yeesh!

Had all kinds of basil too, had one pot in the house that had basil in it for several good years, never died till just recently. weird for an annual.

[Timberwolf]

The only herb I really enjoyed I gave up 19 years ago.../ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif

[Rink]

hey!! I always thought Marijuana woulda made a nice border fern, its pretty, but i dont smoke so thats a non-issue hehe

Lavenders are so kewl, just picked a bunch for a little bouquet.

My ultimate purple flowered herb is Hyssop, it has the most incredibly beautiful purple-blue flowers, and I Love it.

Rosemary, the scent reminds me of church incense, and corsican mint is so divine smelling.

Love purple cone flower cuz they are so tall and colorful. Lambs ears are so soft and fuzzy and kewl lookin in a bouquet.

too many herbs to enjoy and not enough decent yard to put em al in for it.

[HarvickFan29]

Rink said: I have to date lavender vera;.....

Never mind! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon129.gif

Rink, do you cook with any of those? What do you mainly do with them? I love herbs too, and grow them for drying.

[Rink]

I dont do a very good job cooking, wish i could but I'm not good at it.

I love to grow em and enjoy the beauty of the flowers and the scents they bring forth.

Love sachets, bouquets and potpourris.

I love the idea of using herbs for healthful purposes too.

[HarvickFan29]

Rink, very cool! I find growing herbs theraputic. Do you?

That's great about the basil coming back. I've never had basil do that. It's got a lot to do with the moisture in your area. I grow three or so kinds of basil. You can make your own basil butter, and it's great on steak.

I dry my herbs and give some as gifts throughout the year. They make great Christmas presents as well.

[HarvickFan29]

Rink, I've got a brown paper bag full of lavender that I dried at the end of last fall. I'd love to make some soap from it. But, I've never made soap.

I've never grown hyssop. Does it have a scent? Could I press the flowers? I make stuff from pressed flowers as well.

[Rink]

You can press any flower, Hyssop is a REALLY kewl colored flower, its striking indigo blue is amazing (for me at least) its a beautiful herb and yes it smells but not lots like lavender.

I have plenty of herb books that tells you how to make rose petal beads and soaps, papers and more, dyes for wool and cloth and such, I oughtta dig em out and give you some titles. they are very kewl books to have.

Me I'd love to make scented candles out of herbs, my granma used to make candles and sell em when she was young.

I dont think soap is too hard to make there are variations to soap, so gimme a lil time I'll find the soap recipe on one of my herb books for yas.

anything else ya want holler. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon16.gif

[HarvickFan29]

Rink, here's a place I thought was a

cool site (http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=9F7C4783-8C98-4FF1-90CA8C470E032926)

[Rink]

Thanks for the kewl site.

yea one has to be very aware of what you take in herbal medicinals to that of the pharmaceutical medicines.

all are medicines and can not only counter-react each other but also can be bad reactive towards each other if combined.

I DO love studying this stuff.

BTW ever see a Gingko tree? they are THE coolest trees around, dunno why towns dont plant those instead of those sidewalk & road breaking maple trees.

as Gingko trees are slow growing and have the funkiest leaves that turn golden in the fall and fall off, they're small and not as bothersome as maple tree leaves are.

I have one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif
very tough lil tree, can take a lotta polution and actually handle poor to bad soils and poluted areas because of its toughness.

O and one tree thats used to kill off swams heh is the Eucaliptus tree, they are swamp killers because they suck up all the water in the surrounding area.

[SouthernReBelle]

I prefer goldenseal root. It cures whatever ails you and cleans you out when you need it most.

Love, Heather

[HarvickFan29]

Rink, I planted some basil, peppermint, and English lavender today. I'm not great with seeds but we'll see what happens. The planting instructions for the lavender was to just sprinkle it on top of the soil. It says it takes about 21 days for germination. I prefer the herbs such as basil because they start coming up just after 5 days.

[Rink]

well I tried planting Lavender but it wasnt cooperative in germination. from what I heard Lavender is tough to get goin from seed, so if you can get yours goin lemme know.

there's so many kewl kinds of lavender its not funny, peppermint if planted in the ground can become invasive, so if you dont want this plant to be a permanent invasive companion in your garden, i suggest to pot it only in a secure pot.

Lemon balm seems to be the same in that regards, as it is related to the mint family.

so be careful of any mint.

basil is an annual.

peppermint though is good for an upset tummy or for a chi;d's colic, all you do is pick the leaves macerate them (mash em up with like a mortar & pestle but good) , then immediately put them in a cup and pour hot water over them and then steep.

[HarvickFan29]

I know what you mean about mint. Years ago, I threw down three packs of mint seeds on the side of the house where I lived, and it turned into a field of mint. I loved it. The aroma was great plus it kept away certain creepy crawlers, and flies. I could cut it back as far as I could and it would bloom hearty the next spring. Amazing! It is still there to this day!!!

Flies don't like basil either. So, it's good to keep some drying or growing in the kitchen.

Fleas do not like peppermint or lavender.

Well, I'll let you know about the lavender. I'm crossing my fingers on that!

[Rink]

Kewl, and if you like a low growing seriously kewl smelling mint type, try Corsican Mint. its meant for walkways, inbetween paving stones etc, only grows up to one inch, and has little bluish teeny flowers, but rub your hand on it and the smell is sooooo divine, believe me.

I bet it would grow well in your area, be super to have a lawn made of corsican mint, soft, plush and every step you take gives a divine mint smell.

ya gotta try that one, its a small low growing mint but it is to me and my nose one of the kewlest smelling one around /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif

[HarvickFan29]

Thanks! I will get some Corsican Mint seeds when I go to my market at the end of this week and have them planted (in pots) by Saturday! I'll have to wait to plant isome outside next spring when I plant my trees.

I wish I could remember what kind of mint it was I planted at the house where I used to live. It grew tall so it wasn't Corsican.

[Rink]

hun there are like 700 to 800+ mint varieties

some of what I've had are this:

Peppermint
Spearmint
Wintermint
Corsican mint
Orange mint
Pineapplemint
etc

many many kewl mint varieties, many of whom are tall, might have been spearmint.

I prefer to buy the lil plant at gardening stores, lol cuz it smells so good i cant leave it alone i dont have the patience to plant the seeds LOL!

Yah I'm terrible hehe

[HarvickFan29]

When I try something and don't do too well at it, I always keep trying until I feel it is fruitless. So, I'm gonna try my hand at seeds once again.

One of the problems I have with basil and other tall herbs is that it gets a certain height (about 1/4 inch tall) and kills over. How do I keep the stems strong to support the plant? I try to keep the soil evenly moist. What gives?

[Rink]

just get em support sticks, you know the ones with the little prongs.

another thing is to have them planted close together so they can support each other.

[Estragon]

I grow basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, cilantro, parsley, and chives for cooking {maybe the last two aren't herbs}. Cooking with fresh herbs is great, plus if I cook something special, I can give it that final "BAM!" of fresh herbs for presentation . . . /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif

[HarvickFan29]

Oh yeah, there's nothing like fresh herbs! 'BAM' or not!