new basil,
bought at Floria2009, a flower show in Putrajaya.
We have been growing basil for quite sometime now, and lately baby basil can be seen all over the place, through reseeding. It is convenient in a way, to look around and decide which baby basil should be allowed to grow and the rest pulled out.... The earlier basil has light green leaves and white tiny blooms.
We bought another basil plant with heavier green leaves and slight purplish pink flowers, at the recent Floria2009, an exiting flower show Putrajaya has seen in years. We put it in a clay pot...... and it is definitely growing.
Both species, has varying color and look. They send out slightly different smell too but still within the range what basil should smell like...... Kakdah will pick a leaf or two to let her menu be more aromatic....
have fun with gardening
~bangchik and kakdah
Putrajaya, MALAYSIA
you just have to go in your garden pick a herb of this and that. fresh as it goes!whereas the rest of us has to go to supermarket to but those aromatic herbs!
ReplyDeletenow i feel like cooking by just looking at those basil!
Yes I can imagine basil like many herbs will self sow not always where you want them.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful basil flowers -I have never seen basil flowers. I love basil on anything that has tomato sauce. :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the Blotanical awards!
ReplyDeleteHow do you get basil to re-seed? Mine dies with the frost. Then if I try to bring it inside, it gets aphids. Drats...
ReplyDeleteI love basil, it is one of my favorite herbs for cooking.
Rosey
I imagined herb plants do not flower! Indeed basil the plant and the flower is so pretty.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the awards. You do have a lovely, informative yet lively blog.
With some more buying, Kakdah may need only to pick any varieties for her cooking without even going to pasar.
ReplyDeleteSALITYPE, I am fortunate now, having a little piece of land to garden.. I keep basil in pots even though some are planted in the garden. You too can pick your own leaf, if you are serious with container gardening... haha..
ReplyDeleteJOANNE..., a few plants are very prolific with this self seeding issue. Celosia, basil and spinach seems to be the best. Every time I work the soil up for next planting, within a few days, young seedlings of spinach will appear. Somehow seeds can stay dormant, and will germinate when condition is right. But I have the pleasure of choosing the best, and pull out the rest..
TES.. basil flower is tiny, but basil compensate by having a lot of them.. so the flowers look bushy. Basil and tomato sauce is a natural match!
KATARINA... Thanks for the sweet words about Blotanical Awards. We are all winners because we live up to the spirit of Stuart's Blotanical, by connecting, supporting and engaging...
ROSEY... Reseeding is self seeding.... The seeds are so tiny, that a good gust of wind will throw the seeds a few meters away... Enough water, the seeds will sprout and we have summer all year long....
OCEAN GIRL [LISA]... Most plants will let out flowers.... even selom! I also grow pucuk kaduk, a standard item for Nasi Ulam.. and it has flowers too... small white bloom but very prominent!.. About the Awards, thank you very much.
RAINNIE... To tell you the truth, going to pasar is a standard item in Kakdah's weekly list-of-things-to-do. My little vegetable garden can't handle fish, prawns, squids, fresh eggs, coconuts juice [santan], pineapple, etc..etc.. The list is long my dear Rainnie. Again thank you for your nice complimentary words on the Awards.
Cheers every one,
~bangchik
putrajaya, Malaysia.
I leave the blooms to go to seed and whatever the Goldfinches don't eat falls into the container and next year I have new basil plants...what a bonus!
ReplyDeleteYour shots are beautiful of these delicious plant's flowers! I have not seen ones with purple/pink flowers before, nor had the self seed. Will be leaving them in the ground as winter's frost comes to see if we can get babies. Thanks for the inspiration and a hearty congrats on your blotanical wins. :-)
ReplyDeleteFrances
It is a pretty herb too. But it does love to spread. It has even got to growing in the woods around my house from the spreading seeds.
ReplyDeleteI bought some purple basil like yours last summer. They went to sees and died in winter. I wonder if any will sprout up this spring.
ReplyDeletehttp://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/12/vietnamese-basil.html
ReplyDeleteAre these the same as yours?
JANET.. I guess plants has been dependent on self seeding for zillion of years. Of course, proper germination by gardeners is good; select the good seeds, put them in pots, thin them to allow only the healthy ones, then transfer into larger container or direct to bed... But plants can also handle themselves, we just come in to choose the better seedlings.
ReplyDeleteFRANCES... Thanks for the visit and comment. Our growing season is much longer than climate you are in, therefore plants here can go through the full cycle, and thus put to test their true survival instinct!.. Self seeding is fairly normal...
HOCKING HILLS... So basil really spreads well in your place. Thanks for sharing.
ANN.. sorry to hear that, when winter put a halt to basil survival instinct... Seeds don't normally die over here... seed coats really protect what's inside. With right condition, sprouts will appear.
There is resemblance to Vietnamese basil, but my basil has stem not as dark.
CHEERS
~bangchik
More basil is good. I especially like the various shades of the basil and its flowers. You picked a good one. Just a slightly different flavor and you have a good dish to cook.
ReplyDeleteThanks MARYDELLE... basil is not only for the leaves and a good dish, it's also about shades, blooms and landscape element in the garden... Thanks, ~bangchik
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous of your basil plants, I didn't plant any this year (I know, what was I thinking!) I made basil butter with some a friend gave me - yum on toast with tomato.
ReplyDeleteBasil is so good. I love it.
ReplyDelete