It is really wonderful to have some culinary herbs planted near the front door. Volunteer basil plants sprang up this spring where we planted some basil last year. Periodically the tops are snipped back or leaves are harvested for the kitchen.
Basil bunches provide leaves for pesto pasta sauce.
Borage sprouted out of my herb planting disaster after I dumped the flats in the garden. It’s really starting to flower now that September is here and gone. The bright blue flowers are almost a cornflower blue. Borage would look stunning as an edge plant around a flowerbed.
Borage volunteered in the garden to show off its blue flowers.
The giant blue hyssop did not reach giant status this year, maybe next year. The flowers are not so blue now, but you can see that many flowers are packed closely together on the terminal spikes. Toss one of these on a salad or dinner plate for an anise-tasting treat of a different consistency. The flower heads have a spongy sort of feel when you bite down. The anise flavor doesn’t quite appear at first taste, but rather comes along as you chew the leaves or flowers. Quite nice as a palate cleanser.
