Basil

[SpookyShoe]

Thai basil with its beautiful bloomstalks...

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[EdieJ]

I took some cuttings from the plant I grew from a cutting ... And at least one cutting has roots! It's like a self-perpetuating plant. Love it!!

[SpookyShoe]

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I absolutely do not need any more basil, but this lime one has wonderful smelling leaves. And teeny tiny white flowers.

[SpookyShoe]

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Boxwood basil, a fast grower. I absolutely did not need another basil, but I have never grown this plant so I had to try it. It gets up to 16 inches high. Right now mine is about a foot tall.

[PlainJane]

[mention]SpookyShoe[/mention] that’s one of my favorite basil varieties.

[SpookyShoe]

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Boxwood basil in bloom....a bee magnet.

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[peebee]

[mention]SpookyShoe[/mention] did you grow the boxwood basil from seed or as a plant? It's absolutely gorgeous! How is the taste?

[SpookyShoe]

@SpookyShoe did you grow the boxwood basil from seed or as a plant? It's absolutely gorgeous! How is the taste?

Plant.

[SpookyShoe]

Grow bag o' basils...

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Purple basil

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Lemon basil

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Thai basil

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Spicy globe basil

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[SpookyShoe]

Variegated "Pesto Perpetuo."

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[Cole_Robbie]

There is a dwarf basil variety called Emily that always was my favorite to grow in a container.

[roper2008]

I am growing Emily basil. That’s my new favorite Italian basil. I grew it for the first time last year. My favorite Thai basil is Siam Queen.

[JRinPA]

I'm about to start my basil for the year. A lot gets used here for canning tomatoes, so I've been starting it about now, early June, so it is putting on leaves well by August. I do my best to not let it go to seed, so if I see flowers it has to get nipped back. I agree it is one of the most cold sensitive plants that I grow, and when the black spots start it is about done, but sometimes it maybe be an early cold snap and most of it comes back. I do plant a lot of it at different spots, usually near tomatoes.

I plant them directly from microblocks, that is 3/4" soil blocks, when the sprouts are ideally 1" tall. I'll try to give each a few inches of space. The hardest part is seeding them, since the seed is so tiny. I'll often get 3 or 4 per block instead of 1.

[SpookyShoe]

Rutgers Passion basil. This compact plant grows 20-26 in. tall x 12-15 in. wide. Great for containers.

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Beautiful pink blooms on Cinnamon basil, also grown in a container.

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[arnorrian]

Cardinal from Baker Creek.

[karstopography]

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My Genovese and Sweet Basil are about 5’ tall and blooming. I planted the seed maybe late in March or early in April. The dark opal is way down in the understory.

I pick the leaves from all of them from the understory mostly as they seem milder and less spicy. The thai basil is in a forgotten corner of a somewhat neglected bed and has about died from thirst a few times, but I’ve given the plant more love recently and it has responded positively.

Bees of every stripe seem to like basil blossoms.

[Sue_CT]

Interesting, I actually have never seen mine bloom because I thought when it flowered it would go to seed and die, so I try to cut off any buds before they open. Does the plant continue to do well after you let it bloom? I grow mine in the house now because the beetles just decimate it outside.

Basil

[karstopography]

My basil apparently will continue to grow and send out more side branches and those will also begin to bloom. It doesn’t seem to die once it blooms and sets seed, not for the first branches that are blooming . I’ve been pretty consistent this season with watering and once in a while putting on a little fertilizer. Grasshoppers have been the main pests, but those seem AWOL at the moment.

Basil is a heat lover for sure. My plants do get some relief from direct sun with some of the tree canopy filtering the light.

I’ll have to keep an eye on the plants and see how they grow as summer turns to fall. In past years, maybe I gave up on the much of the garden and including the basil a little by now. I planted more basil than usual this season and all it from seed except the thai basil. Each individual plant is pretty close,a couple to a few inches from its neighbors.

[karstopography]

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First sowing of basil was successful. Dark Opal, a Persian type, and Aurelia, the bolognese basil from Renee’s garden.

I’ll sow more later as other crops finish up. Still want to plant Genovese.

[karstopography]

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My Persian basil is beginning to flower. Seeds are from baker creek and the leaves aren’t nearly as purple as the website shows. I think every seed I scattered germinated and even with a lot of thinning there’s quite a tightly packed cluster of plants.

I barely have used any for recipes. Seems like the wife prefers the Bolognese and Genovese types I’m growing better.