Fresh herbs arrive weekly in our greenhouse!
Variety of herbs is subject to availability.
ANISE HYSSOP is a classic plant for both herb gardens and borders, anise hyssop is composed of erect branches of mint-and-licorice-scented, medium green leaves ending in fuzzy spikes of small lavender flowers. The flowers are edible and are charming crumbled into salads. The flowers are highly attractive to numerous pollinators, especially bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
ARTEMISIA is also known as the “Cola Plant”. As the name suggests, the tips of the shoots have the aroma and taste of ‘Cola’ and therefore the Cola Plant is very popular with children and adults alike. The young blades, fresh or dried, are very suitable for seasoning meats and accompanying sauces, and also add freshness to a salad, fruit punch drink or to iced water. If you use more than the tips it becomes quite bitter.
BASIL perhaps the most popular and widely used culinary herb. It is a tender annual, aromatic plant with a spicy odor and flavor. It grows 12-18 inches tall and foliage color can range from green to purple. Foliage size can vary from large lettuce-like leaves to very small leaves, half inch in size.
Varieties: African Blue, Amethyst, Ararat, Aristotle, Blue Spice, Christmas, Cinnamon, Crimson King, Dolce Fresca, Greek, Red Ball, holy Tea, Italian Large Leaf, Jolina, Lemon, Lime, Magical Michael, Mammoth, Oriental Breeze, Persian, Piccolino, Queen of Sheba, Red Genovese, Red Rubin, try Me, Spice Globe, Sweet, Sweet Thai, Thai Magic, Thai (red stem)
BAY LAUREL has leaves are glossy green and thick which makes it an attractive specimen plant for containers. Bay imparts subtle and unusual flavors when used with other herbs.
BEE BALM is a true Native American herb named Monarda and is also known as Oswego Tea. This is the plant that Native Americans used to treat colds and to relax. It’s tubular flowers bloom from a large round head. Both leaves and flowers have a strong citrus mint smell.
Varieties: Balmy Purple, Bee’s Favorite, Jacob Kline
BORAGE has gray-green coloured leaves with both stems and leaves covered with fine hairs. The foliage has a cucumber-like flavor that is useful in salads, soups or stews and beverages. The flowers are used as an edible garnish or added to deserts or drinks. The harsh hairs on the plant may cause skin irritations in some persons so care is suggested when handling the plant during harvest.
Varieties: Bianca
CALAMINT plants are attractive to butterflies and bees and dry well as an addition to potpourri. Dry the leaves for a refreshing hot or cold tea. This versatile plant will become one of your favorites for its carefree nature, beauty and usefulness. Traditionally, the herb has been used to flavor meats, but the variety dictates the flavor profile. Some more closely resemble thyme, while others are similar to zingy basil.
CATNIP is another name for the herb Nepeta cataria, a relative of oregano and spearmint. The active molecule in Nepeta cataria is nepetalactone, which is believed to mimic a cat pheromone. Nepetalactone binds to a cat’s olfactory receptors to produce catnip’s unique response.
CHAMOMILE has been used as a traditional medicine for thousands of years to calm anxiety and settle stomachs. In North America, chamomile is best known as an ingredient in herbal tea.
Varieties: German
CHERVIL has light green leaves that resemble finely cut parsley. The flavor of chervil tastes like a mix of parsley and anise. Both the leaves and stems are used in cooking. Leaves are used much the same way parsley is used in soups, salads, sauces and cheese and egg dishes. It is also used as a garnish.
Varieties: Curled, Plain Leaf
CHIVES should be harvested throughout the season to prevent the leaves from becoming tough and to encourage formation of new bulblets. Cut leaves toward the base about one inch above the soil. Flowers can also be harvested for use as an edible garnish. Leaves are used fresh and can be dried but will discolor and quickly absorb moisture. Chives can also be frozen for later use. Leaves can be used to flavor salads, dips, soups, stews, vinegars, cheese dishes sour cream and butter. Flavor is much milder and more subtle than other members of the onion family.
Varieties: Garlic, Gigantic Garlic, Onion
CILANTRO grows one to two feet tall and has finely cut leaves that resemble flat leaf parsley. It has a penetrating odor and flavor. Cilantro is most often associated with Mexican or Asian foods. It is most commonly used in salsa, fish and chicken dishes.
Varieties: Desert Blush, Santo
CORIANDER is a versatile herb popular in Asian cooking including curries, Chinese and Thai dishes. Both the seeds and the leaves of the plant can be used, and offer two distinct flavours. The seeds have a slight lemony flavour; they are often ground and used as a spice. The leaves (also known as cilantro) have a slightly bitter taste and can be chopped up and added to dishes and breads or used as a garnish.
Varieties: Vietnamese
COLEUS will send a not-so-subtle message to neighborhood cats and dogs who visit your garden. This plant’s malodorous ways are something critters—including rabbits, deer and fox—tend to avoid. The plant’s leaves and stems, when brushed or broken, release odor that resembles either tomcat urine or skunk spray, depending on who’s doing the smelling.
Varieties: Stinky (canina)
DILL is a tall herb with fine, feathery foliage. Foliage color can range from dark green to a blue-green. In mid-summer, dill will produce large, flat topped yellow flower clusters with seeds that can be harvested for culinary use. Used to flavor fish, lamb, egg dishes, soups and potato salad. Seeds are used in pickling recipes and vinegar.
Varieties: Bouquet, Ella (dwarf), Long Island Mammoth
ECHINACEA is one of the most widely known herbs in American folk herbalism. Used extensively by traditional herbalists and Native Americans alike in North America for generations, echinacea eventually gained popularity in Europe in the 1900’s. One of its main uses is to support healthy immune function, although many of its historical uses were related to topical applications.
Varieties: Purpurea
EUCALYPTUS has a distinct, menthol-like fragrance and it is a popular herb for home remedies. It makes a stunning, ornamental indoor plant. Many crafters enjoy incorporating the dried leaves in their creations as well.
Varieties: Baby Blue, Lemon Bush
FENNEL grows 3-5 feet tall with fine textured foliage resembling dill. Flat topped clusters of yellow flowers appear in late summer. Herb fennel is used in fish dishes, soup and stews and fennel seed is used in sausage. Fennel bulbs are used raw in salads or steamed.
Varieties: Bronze, Florence (bulb), Grosfruchtiger (leaf)
HOPS is a plant that grows on bines; long stout stems with strong hairs to aid climbing that can reach 22 feet in height. This herb bears dark green colored, heart-shaped leaves on a fibrous stalk with finely toothed edges.
Varieties: Cascade, Chinook, Magnum, Santiam, Willamette
LAVENDER is used for scenting potpourri and sachet mixtures. It also can be used in a culinary fashion in beverages as well as for pork, fish and chicken dishes. Caution is advised though to use it sparingly as a little goes a long way.
Varieties: Anouk, Anouk (silver), Big Boy James, Big Time Blue, Blue Cushion, Boysenberry Ruffles, essence Purple, Goodwin Creek, Grosso, Hidcote (English), Jean Davis (pink), Munstead (English), Otto Quast, Phenomenal, Pinnata (Fernleaf), Platinum Blonde, Provence (English) Sugarberry Ruffles (French), Sweet Romance
LEMON BALM can be used to flavor many different types of dishes. It can be added to salads, stews, soups, fish, pork and egg dishes. It is also used in making jellies, teas and vinegars and to compliment fruit.
Varieties: Gold Leaf
LEMON GRASS is used to flavor fish, soups, curries, sauces, and teas. The stems and leaves are used in Vietnamese and Thai dishes. Larger parts of the stalk can be added to stews or soup and removed much as you would a bay leaf.
Varieties: Bulbous, East Indian
LEMON VERBENA is an attractive plant for container growing. It has a strong lemony fragrance. Lemon verbena is used to flavor beverages, salads, jellies, sauces, soups, fish and meat dishes. Its strongly lemon flavored leaves can be used where lemon is called for in recipes.
LOVAGE is much like celery only stronger and sweeter. The leaves, stems, roots and seeds are edible. Leaves and stems are used to flavor soups, salads, gravy, meat, and chicken dishes. The stems can also be candied or blanched and eaten as a vegetable. Because the stems are hollow, they make handy straws for sipping beverages such as tomato juice. Leaves are also used in teas.
MARJORAM is a member of the Oregano family but with a sweeter, milder flavor. Marjoram is used in soups, egg dishes, beef, and chicken dishes, sausages, cheese and tomato dishes.
Varieties: Sweet Compact
MILK THISTLE is a natural herb that has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and is commonly used to detoxify the body, especially the liver. It’s commonly turned into extract or supplement form in order to reap its cell regenerating milk thistle benefits.
MINT has several benefits which include proper digestion and weight loss, relief from nausea, depression, fatigue, and headache. This well-known mouth and breath freshener is scientifically known as Mentha and has more than two dozen species and hundreds of varieties. Mint is often used with veal, lamb and pork dishes as well as beverages and jellies.
Varieties: After Eight, Apple, Banana, Berries & Cream, Chocolate, Corsican, Ginger, Grapefruit, Hillary’s Sweet Lemon, Mojito, Moroccan (compact spearmint), Peppermint, Spearmint, Sweet Pear
OREGANO is a culinary and medicinal herb from the mint, or Lamiaceae family. It has been used in medicine and cooking for thousands of years. It adds flavor, and it may have a number of health benefits. Oregano is used in sauces, tomato dishes, pizza, Mexican dishes salads and soups.
Varieties: Compact, Golden Crinkle Leaf, Golden, Greek, Hot & Spicy, Italian, Kent Beauty, Kirigami, Purple Maiden, Supreme, Variegated
PARSLEY is the most widely grown herb for both garnish and flavoring. Parsley is often seen used as a garnish. It also has the unique ability to blend with the flavors of other herbs. It is used to flavor stews, soups and other vegetables.
Varieties: Italian Giant, Moss Curled
ROSEMARY is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Use rosemary sparingly as an accent to food as the flavor can be somewhat pungent and resinous. Use with fish, pork, lamb, poultry and game.
Varieties: Creeping, Upright
RUE is considered to be an old fashioned herb garden plant. Its strong smell is a repellent to many creatures, including dogs, cats and Japanese beetles. Because of this, it makes an excellent companion plant. It has semi-woody growth, which means that it can be pruned into hedges. It attracts some types of butterflies, and, last but not least, makes a lovely cut flower.
RUMEX (Raspberry Dressing) is a showy herb valued for its red-veined green leaves. An excellent ornamental and edible having the flavor of raspberry vinaigrette, it is also a colorful addition to container plantings. Rumex can be used in a similar manner to spinach. Either sauteed or used in salads.
RUNGIA KLOSSII is a fast grower bushy herb, common named ‘Mushroom Plant’ due to its leaves special mushroom flavor. The leaves have a crispy texture, similar to spinach and can be eaten raw in tossed salad, tucked into a sandwich or use as a great garnish.The mushroom flavor increases with cooking (in soups or stews).
SAGE is also one of the few herbs that, even as its leaves grow larger, the flavor intensifies. Unlike many herbs, sage leaves are still delicious after the plant flowers. Leaves are used in fish, pork and poultry dishes. Also with vegetables and in sausages.
Varieties: Bergarrten, Bergarrten Variegated Leaf, Garden, Golden Edge, Maxima, Pineapple, Pineapple Golden Delicious, Purple, Tricolor
SAVORY has a wonderfully distinct piquancy which brings an agreeable tasty element to relatively mild foods without overpowering them. Its robust flavor holds up well in long, slow-cooked dishes such as soups and stews. Savory combines well with breadcrumbs for stuffings. Most commonly used as a seasoning for green vegetables, savory has a special affinity is for beans.
Varieties: Indian Mint, Summer, Winter
SCENTED GERANIUM is mainly grown for their attractive and highly scented foliage. Fragrances can run from apple to mint to lemon to coconut to rose. Leaves are used as flavorings for deserts, beverages, vinegars and jellies. The more pungent and spicy types of scented geraniums are often used for potpourri, sachets and perfumes.
Varieties: Citrodorum, Lemona
SHISO (Perilla) is one of the most commonly used herbs in Japanese cooking, and the best one to grow if you have any interest in Japanese food. The spiky, ovoid leaves are pretty and fragrant on their own, excellent as herbal sushi garnishes or muddled into a mojito. But they’re hearty and dynamic enough to stand up to a range of cooking methods.
Varieties: Britton, Purple
SORREL is a mound shaped plant growing in the form of a rosette. The flavor is very acidic and lemon-like. Used in mixed salads, sauces, soups, cheese dishes and pork and fish dishes. Because of the high acidity levels found in sorrel, cooking with it may discolor some metallic pots.
STEVIA is a healthy sugar substitute. The leaves can be used fresh or dried, but many people find the flavor improves if the sweet compounds have first been extracted in water or alcohol. With stevia, slightly under-sweetening drinks or fruit desserts tends to taste better than using too much. Too much stevia may impart a bitter or medicinal flavor.
TARAGON is an herb that is popular in the world of cooking. In fact, tarragon is such a vital part of French cuisine that it is one of the “Fines Herbes.” Use in vinegars, oils, marinades and salads.
Varieties: French, Texas (All Season)
THYME is highly aromatic with a hint of clove and mint fragrance. Thyme can be used either fresh or dry. It is widely used in soups, stews, casseroles, stuffing and poultry dishes. Its flavor and fragrance is not adversely affected by long, slow cooking.
Varieties: Caraway, Creeping Lemon, Doone Valley (Lemon), English, Foxley, French, Golden Lemon, Highland Cream, Lemon, Red creeping, Silver Edge, Spicy Orange, Woolly