Smelly Plant(s) of the Month: Basil(s)

Ocimum basilicum has so many varieties it makes my head spin. Each variety has a distinctive leaf type and scent profile. Most are annuals, or are grown as such. I've heard that basil can be grown here as a perennial, but my experience says "annual". Maybe in the true tropics, it grows all year.

For the last several years, I grew only Thai Basil (var. thyrsiflora). This year, I got hold of some Lime Basil seeds, which can be hard to find. I also found Spicy Globe Basil, Columnar Basil, and Cinnamon Basil. They are all growing beautifully and my cooking has really gone up a notch as a result. Here is the gallery:

Lime Basil has a gorgeous olfactory profile: a low hum of sweet basil, with a massive hit of lemon verbena and key lime peel on top (courtesy of citral and limonene). The flavor is citrusy. The leaves are smaller and more tender than with ordinary Sweet Basil. It's very easy to grow from seed and fairly tough against pests.

Cinnamon Basil is much more like Sweet Basil in flavor and scent. It does have a spicy kick reminiscent of cinnamon leaves (not bark). It's a fun alternative to Sweet Basil.

Spicy Globe Basil has rounded tufts of small, very tender leaves and stems. There is a mild basil flavor with a peppery kick to it. Lovely in salads and veggie stir fry. I find it a little too delicate for heavy cooking.

Columnar Basil is a very robust, sturdy basil with spicy tones of clove and allspice. It's easy to grow in a container because of its columnar shape; it never sprawls around the pot like Sweet Basil. It seems tougher than Sweet Basil against pests, also. The leaves can be used raw or cooked.

All the basils need plenty of sun and water. Here in Zone 9 (subtropical), they need refuge from direct afternoon sun and heat. I keep them in a west-facing, covered patio, and in a north-facing alcove. That way they get either direct, cool morning sun, or indirect afternoon sun. I water daily and use a well-draining soil, but their schedule will depend on your climate zone and soil type. I use a general fertilizer once a week. They'll flower in late summer (harvest and save the seeds for next season!), then die back in November or December.

Herbs to Drive the Cold Winter Away: Sage and Thyme

This month features not one, but two smelly plants. Sage and thyme are both highly adaptable, easy-to-grow herbs that no garden should go without. Especially when it's cold!

Salvia officinalis Meets Thymus vulgaris

Salvia officinalis and Thymus vulgaris are cousins from the Lamiaceae Family. Both are Mediterranean/European herbs that are now grown worldwide in just about all climatic zones except for the most extreme, where they can be grown indoors in pots. Both are packed with thujones, which are toxic in substantial quantity, but antimicrobial in the small amounts usually taken. Sage has cineole and camphor to boot. And thyme is full of (guess what) thymol, also a strong antibacterial and antiviral substance. I guess that's why Listerine includes it. Both herbs have been shown to be strongly antibacterial in scientific studies (that means formal and peer-reviewed, as opposed to me in my kitchen drinking sage tea and blogging about it). The German Commission E approves thyme for bronchitis, whooping cough, and other illnesses of the respiratory tract. That's a seal of approval in my book!

Both herbs can be chewed on, cooked with, or used to make tea/tisanes, gargles, tinctures, and ointments. The essential oils can be used for a therapeutic steam when you think you may be coming down with a respiratory bug. Both have been used for centuries to soothe tummies as well. (Note: Neither can be used safely by pregnant women or nursing moms, due to the potent thujones.)

This weekend, Chef Riccardo will share a recipe that uses both herbs, and pumpkin, to drive the cold winter away in a particularly delicious manner. I hope you'll join us, and get your risotto pans ready!

Smelly Plant of the Month: Yerba Buena

Yerba Buena, or "good herb", is common in gardens all over the New World, from Chile to Alaska. I have a big pot of it in my front yard. Unfortunately, when I photographed it, we were having our usual 70kph winds and I couldn't get a good focus. But you can see it's green and minty!

A not-terribly good photo of my Yerba Buena in high winds.

Yerba Buena refers to different species of mint or mint-like aromatic plants. Each region has its own. In the US and Philippines, Yerba Buena usually refers to Clinopodium douglasii.  It's used in tisanes for headaches, stomach-aches, and coughs and colds. In parts of Central America, it is Mentha citrata, a true mint. Good old spearmint, Mentha spicata, is often labeled Yerba Buena as well.  In Cuba, it's Mentha nemorosa, or apple mint.  All Yerba Buenas can be used in cooking, and medicinally, though obviously the Clinopodium has slightly different properties than the Menthas.

But the most famous use of Yerba Buena is for the traditional Cuban Mojito!

Mojito courtesy of Wikimedia

Smelly Plant of the Month: Thai Basil

I've been growing Thai basil (Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflora) from seed for two years now. It's similar to sweet basil, the usual kind we can buy in pots in grocery stores, but it has a delicious, minty-licorice kick. It's a native of SE Asia and is used in many Asian cuisines, not just Thai. Here's some hiding in my garden next to much showier gold dust plants and vinca:

Thai basil on the lower right, looking modest.

And here you can see the difference between the usual Sweet basil of Western cuisine, and Thai basil:

Left: Sweet basil, Right: Thai basil (Wikimedia Commons, but it looks like my yard!)

Thai basil has purple stems and smaller leaves. At first, I used it only in Asian dishes. Then I didn't have enough mint for a Middle Eastern dish. Thai basil worked! Then I tried it with a traditional mojito (the unsweet kind) because we have no yerba buena up here, and, yes, everyone loved it. Then I tried it in a traditional Italian pasta recipe with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Delizioso! Then it went straight into salads, onto sandwiches, you name it, it's become somewhat ubiquitous around here....

Thai basil is very easy to grow from seed. It germinates within a few days, and is very tough and resistant to pests and fungi (unlike Sweet basil, which is attacked by everything, it seems). I start mine in the late spring, harvest through summer, and then, by late fall, it's gone. Annuals make me sad when they leave after a few short months, but I save seed from the flower heads and start again the next spring. It's worth a spot in an herb garden whether the cook likes Thai food or not.

Smelly Plant of the Month: Lantana camara

For May, I chose a plant from my garden that's full of controversy, pluses and minuses, pros and cons. You might love it or hate it. It's Lantana!

Lantana camara MR May 2013

Sometimes known as "Stinkflower", this colorful member of the Verbena family came to the American Southeast from the tropics several centuries ago. So it was an invasive, but now it's considered "naturalized".  It's called "Stinkflower" because the leaves give off a pungent, herbaceous perfume that some people perceive as cat pee. To others, it smells sharply green with sweeter, floral undertones. Lantana is even used in perfumes occasionally, and I'd say the closest odor in the flower world to my nose would be marigold, also known as genda, or tagetes.

"Lantana Morning"  MR 2013

What I love about Lantana is the beautiful clusters of multicolored flowers. Lantana blooms all year in warm climates. It can grow on our difficult dunes, and is very pest-resistant. Though it can grow 6 feet high and 8 feet across, it tends to stay small and bushy in beachy environments. It can anchor the soil in places most plants cannot grow at all, and it looks lovely. It also attracts butterflies.

Lantana has a dark side, it's true. It's a seriously nasty invasive in Hawai'i, and several other places on the planet. The plant, particularly the berries, are quite toxic to pets and several species of wildlife. So Lantana might be a great choice for you, or a dreadful one, depending on where you live, and what your gardening needs are. Have you tried Lantana in your garden? If so, how did it work out?