Frequently Asked Questions 

What is an herb, you ask?

Botanically speaking, an herb is a seed bearing plant with fleshy, rather than woody, (“herbaceous”) parts.  However, I like to think of an herb as any 'useful plant.'  I include trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, mosses, algae, lichens, and fungi to my herbal list.

To name a few herbal benefits - Herbs:

• Add flavor to our food and teas

• Provide us with a plethora of fragrances

• Have health benefits

• Create amazing dyes

• Offer choices in natural pesticides

• Have economic value

*Annual herbs* are plants that complete their life cycle in one season… from germination of seeds, through flowering, to end of life.  These plants can be very susceptible to shocks of cold weather.

*Biennial herbs* reach maturity and flower after the second year.  Generally, green growth is generated the first year, and the natural life cycle of flowering, fruiting and demise happen the second year.   If an herb is grown for its leaves (an example is parsley), the leaves are at their best the first season.   If an herb is grown for its flowers or seeds, as caraway, then the second season is required.

*Perennial herbs* are those plants that live from year-to-year, dying back in cold winter weather.  Once established, these plants will bloom annually, in season.  (Worth noting -- you may find yourself moving these guys to various other locations in your garden or your friend’s gardens because of their habit of producing multiple offspring.)  Another interesting tidbit is that in warmer climes, some perennial herbs will bloom their ‘hearts out’ all year long, and then expire at the end of the first year from exhaustion!!

Here's my advice, carpé rutrum, "seize the spade"!