Holy basil doesn’t make your pesto divine. It isn’t even the same species of sweet basil used in your favorite Italian dishes. Holy Basil, also known as Tulsi, can be two different herbs, Ocimum gratissimum, or Ocimum tenuiflorum. It is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae). The wonder herb holy basil, often called “The Queen of Herbs”, is native to Southeast Asia and is commonly used in Ayurveda (traditional medicine in India) to make healing teas, oils, and poultices. Easily propagated by seed or a cutting, holy basil is grown as an annual in most of the United States, but it will grow as a perennial in warmer climates and can even do well as an indoor plant in the right conditions. Even those who have no interest in its medicinal and culinary uses plant this lovely herb for its attractive foliage, flowers, and alluring aroma. Whether growing holy basil for medicinal, spiritual, culinary, or aesthetic purposes, this herb will be a beautiful and satisfying addition to your garden or your houseplant collection. Holy Basil Care Growing holy basil is an easy endeavor, regardless if you grow it from seed, cuttings, or transplant seedlings. The most challenging thing you will encounter might be obtaining plants, so propagating from seed is usually the best bet. If you do happen to find holy basil for sale, be sure you have the correct species. When selecting plants, knowing the difference between Thai basil (O. basilicum var. thyrsiflora) and holy basil, sometimes called Thai holy basil, will determine if you make a healing tea or one that tastes like pesto. Holy Basil can grow directly in your garden or a container both indoors, as a houseplant, or outdoors in the garden that be brought indoors to overwinter. Either way, the methods of caring for both are similar. Light Giving holy basil plenty of sunlight will ensure large healthy leaves. This plant will tolerate some shade, but anything more than dappled shade and you will notice a decline. Soil Though holy basil does grow quite well in most soils, it takes minimal effort to thrive. The ideal soil type is light and airy but rich at the same time. A silty loam is a good choice because it retains some moisture but drains well. Soaking wet soil is problematic, so if soil drainage is an issue, you can amend the soil with perlite to promote drainage. If you plant holy basil in a container or raised bed, the best soil mix to use would be three parts peat moss, one part compost, and one part perlite. Water Keeping the soil moist but not drenched and soggy is the key to growing healthy and abundant holy basil. This rule applies to growing the plant indoors or outdoors. Another consideration when watering basil is a disease; basil downy mildew is often spread by infected soil being splashed up on the leaves. Soaker hoses or drip irrigation systems can prevent fungal spores from splashing up from the soil. Temperature and Humidity Holy basil’s native range is located in a tropical region, so maintaining an average temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit is necessary if you want the plant to survive outdoors. If your local temperature is above this year-round, holy basil will act as a perennial. In cooler hardiness zones, this plant will be annual unless you plant it in a container and move it indoors in the colder months. The USDA recommends holy basil will do well in USDA zones 10b to 11, but you can grow it indoors in any zone. Fertilizer Fertilizing any herb is not recommended. The best method to provide nutrients to an herb is to plant it in good quality soil and enriching that soil with some compost or well-aged manure. When you fertilize an herb, foliage grows quickly in response to the fertilizer and profuse flowering occurs. Usually, this result would be welcomed on most other flowering plants but what happens with herbs is that the herb's essential oils are not as concentrated, and the result is very weak flavor. Inducing early flowering means energy is spent on blooms and not on foliage, and again, the foliage is, for the most part, where the flavor is. So it's best to skip the fertilizer. Holy Basil Varieties Rama tulsi has a cool flavor known for its mellowing effects. Rama has green foliage, purple blossoms, and a green or purple stem, depending on the season. Krishna tulsi tastes similar to black pepper and is known for its high medicinal value. Krishna holy basil is dark green with violet stems, foliage, and light purple blossoms. It grows in the meadows of the Indian Sub-Continent and has been successfully cultivated for private gardens and use in temples. Kapoor tulsi the most widely cultivated variety you will find in the United States. It is a shorter-growing annual variety that bolts quickly with profuse flowers and a mild flavor compared to other varieties. Due to the number of flowers, this variety is an excellent food source for pollinators but the least attractive for medicinal uses. If planning to bring your plant indoors, seek out one of the other varieties. Amrita tulsi is the least commonly grown. Amarita tulsi means immortality, and that is fitting for this plant. It is a perennial that is nearly indestructible and simple to grow. If you plan to grow holy basil in a container, this is the variety to select. Vana tulsi is actually the species O. gratissimum. The very tall variety is incredibly aromatic with a strong clove scent . Vana has green leaves and stems with white blossoms. It is used mostly for medicinal purposes. Propagating Holy Basil To start holy basil from seed, do so indoors four to six weeks before the first frost. Sow seeds in a good quality seed starting mix. Using a heat mat will increase the speed and germination rate. Placing a fan to circulate air over the seedlings will produce stronger plants. Propagating holy basil from cuttings is an easy task. Use a pair of sharp sanitized snips or a sharp grafting knife and make an angled cut about six inches long just below a leaf node. Remove the lower leaves from the cutting and place the cutting in water, changing the water frequently. Wait till roots develop and then transplant into good quality potting soil.

A rare true-blue flower, tweedia brightens up gardens and works well as a cut flower. Join farmer Briana Yablonski to learn how to grow this tender perennial at home. It’s tough to find true blue flowers. While you can often spot this color on plant tags and cultivar names, these supposedly blue blooms often turn out to be shades of purple. That’s one reason why I love tweedia. This perennial produces star-shaped flowers that are true baby blue. The first time I spotted them, I couldn’t believe their color! When you add their fuzzy stems and elongated heart-shaped leaves, they stand out from the crowd. Although tweedia isn’t commonly grown in gardens, it’s not difficult to grow and can thrive in various climates. Not only are the leaves and blooms beautiful in the garden, but the flowers also hold up well when cut. So, if you’re looking for a new, unique flower, try growing tweedia. What Is It? Tweedia is a tender annual that’s known for its light blue flowers. It’s also known as blue milkweed. Since the blooms hold up well after they’re cut, people often grow them for flower arrangements. In fact, I first saw tweedia when working at a Georgia flower farm. As I started my first spring on the farm, I tried to become familiar with all the plants dotting the neatly formed beds. I could recognize the dark green lanceolate coneflower leaves and the tall delphinium flower stalks. But the slightly woody stems covered with heart-shaped leaves? I had no idea. When I asked the farm owner what it was, she told me it was tweedia. But that didn’t help—I had never heard of this plant. Later that day, I looked up a photo of the flowers and was amazed! Since then, tweedia has been one of my favorite flowers to introduce to other gardeners. Characteristics The plant often grows as a small shrub with slightly woody, branching stems. It produces dark green, small, heart-shaped leaves that become elongated as they age. Both the leaves and the stems are covered in fine, fuzzy hairs, and the stems produce a sticky, milky sap when broken. Tweedia blooms in the spring and summer and attracts pollinators including bees and butterflies. Individual flowers appear on inch-long pedicles that grow from the main stem. The and start out in shades of light blue. As they age, they turn light pink. Elongated, green seed pods follow the flowers and are filled with brown seeds attached to silky, white hairs. In most areas of the United States, you should grow tweedia as an annual or dig up the plants and bring them indoors during the winter. That’s because cold air will squash the tender foliage and stems. Although many sources say tweedia is hardy to zones 10 and 11, I’ve seen it successfully overwintered outdoors in zone 8! So if you live in zone 8 or 9, it’s worth covering the plants with a layer of frost cloth and watching what happens. Native Area This perennial is native to parts of South America, including Brazil and Uruguay. In its native environment, it grows as a small, messy shrub or slightly trailing plant. It’s often found in dry, open areas rather than wet, tropical forests. Planting You can grow tweedia outdoors in a garden bed or container. Since it maxes out at a few feet tall and has a branching shape, it works well in front of taller shrubs and perennials. You can also mix it with other flowers in a cutting garden. How to Grow These perennials are easy to grow as long as you know how to provide the proper environment. Keep these ideal growing conditions in mind if you want to end up with stems covered in beautiful blue flowers. Maintenance These low-maintenance plants don’t require much care besides regular weeding and watering. However, young seedlings develop from pinching to encourage a highly branching form. This involves removing the top tip so the side shoots start growing longer. This will eventually lead to an increased number of long stems that are suitable for harvest as cut flowers. If you live in zones 8 or 9 and want to keep the plants alive through the winter, you can take protective steps. Mulch the soil around the plants with wood chips or straw to protect the roots. Then, cover the plants with a layer or two of protective row cover. This will help keep the plants warm and give them a better chance of surviving the cold temperatures. When the weather remains above freezing, remove the row cover.

A delightfully airy plant with beautiful heart-shaped flowers, the Pacific bleeding heart is a must-have perennial in the shade garden. Learn where this native plant will thrive and how to give it the best care with native plant gardener Jerad Bryant. Some plants wow growers with their hardiness, and others with their ornamental attributes. Very rarely does a plant come along that exemplifies both. Pacific bleeding heart does, and it is as hardy as it is beautiful. Scientifically Dicentra formosa, this shade-loving perennial spreads through rhizomes and seeds to slowly blanket an area. Plant one this year, and you’ll have bunches of pendulous heart-shaped flowers each spring. This plant grows foliage that is as ornamental as the flowers, and they delicately divide into fern-like fronds. This native thrives in the Pacific Northwest but grows successfully throughout the U.S. with the proper care and maintenance. Follow this simple care guide and learn all you need to know to grow Pacific bleeding heart. What Is Pacific Bleeding Heart? As its name suggests, this plant is native to the Pacific Coast and the wet forests near the coastline. It creeps and crawls along airy soil to form strands of fern-like foliage and pink-white heart-shaped flowers. In the forest, it stands out among other plants, and in the garden, it creeps as a ground cover for shady areas. This bleeding heart is different than the common one Dicentra spectabilis in that it is smaller, and it is native to North America. The common bleeding heart is native to Japan and does not have as finely divided foliage. Although it is an old garden favorite, native species of Dicentra are quickly surpassing its popularity. Other than its ornamental beauty, plant this native for its beneficial offerings to the local ecosystem. This plant has a unique appendage on its seeds that is rich in oil called an elaiosome. Ants love eating this oil, and they carry the seeds to new places when they discard them after feasting. Besides ants, bees, native birds, and beetles enjoy the seeds, foliage, and flowers. A true perennial, this plant prefers a long dormancy during cold winter months. Then, in the early spring, bunches of fern-like foliage grow out of the ground before clusters of heart-shaped flowers. The flowers give way to the foliage, which stays green until fruits form from the flowers. After an entire year, the plant dies back to its rhizomes beneath the soil, and it conserves its energy so that it can sprout again. History Unlike most native plants cultivated widely, the Pacific bleeding heart was famous for garden use in the U.K. before the United States. Scottish botanist Archibald Menzies encountered it on his travels along the Pacific Coast. He collected its seeds and sent samples back to Kew Gardens. From there, Kew propagated the plant and spread it throughout the U.K. After its wide use in the U.K., American gardens caught up and started featuring the Pacific variety instead of the common one from Japan. Nowadays naturalists use this plant widely in renaturalization projects, and gardeners highly favor it the world over. Native Americans use it as a remedy for skin issues and back pain. The scientific name Dicentra means “two-spurred” in Latin and references the two points that come off of the heart-shaped part of the flower. Formosa means “beautiful and well-formed.” Any onlooker of this stately plant can see the name fits well! Native Area Pacific bleeding heart is native to the Pacific Northwest, and it grows naturally from British Columbia down to central California along the coast in forests and woodlands. It prefers light, airy soil with good drainage and lots of water during the growing season. Because it grows naturally in forests, this U.S. native thrives in dappled shade with protection from direct sunlight. It benefits from pockets of intermittent light throughout the day. In the forest, light passes through the trees sporadically, and this plant benefits from the occasional sunray. This perennial commonly grows alongside other shade-loving forest floor dwellers like evergreen violets, Western fairy slippers, and fawn lilies. Ferns like the Western sword-fern, mosses, and lichens also grow profusely where this wildflower resides. In my garden, this plant slowly spreads each year under the shade of a tall Douglas fir tree, and it thrives without much intervention. Characteristics Identify this plant easily by looking for its flowers, leaves, and structure. It typically grows to heights of one-and-a-half feet and widths of three feet or wider. From the ground in early spring, shoots of blue-green foliage sprout up. Then, stems with no leaves and clusters of pendant pink-white flowers bloom profusely. The flowers look like cut-open hearts with blood dripping down, which is where the plant’s interesting name comes from. In the wild, this plant blankets woodland areas with conducive conditions for its growth. It spreads readily underground through fleshy and tubular root structures called rhizomes. This native also uses seeds to spread itself, and it employs ants to disperse these seeds by growing the oil-rich coating they eat. In the fall, as temperatures dip below freezing, this plant dies back to its rhizomes and disappears above ground. Even in areas where winters are mild, this perennial dies back and rests for a season before sprouting to flourish in the other three. Uses Plant this Pacific Northwest native for its ornamental attributes and the wealth of natural resources it offers local wildlife. This plant is toxic for humans, and so I recommend not planting it in the vegetable garden. Situate it in an area you’d like nature to reclaim, as the shade it provides in the spring and summer creates a habitat for all sorts of bugs and critters on the soil. In reforesting and naturalizing initiatives in the Pacific Northwest, this plant settles into new areas with ease. It is helpful as a deciduous ground cover in woodlands, forests, and shaded meadows. Plant one alongside shade-loving shrubs like snowberry and serviceberry, and trees like bigleaf maple and Douglas fir. Where To Buy Buy seeds or plants to try growing this perennial at home. Live plants are easier to transplant into the garden than starting from seed. However, seed starting is a rewarding process for the adventurous gardener. Try the species plant for gorgeous pink blooms, or try a fun cultivar like ‘Zestful’ with a longer bloom period and darker flowers. Planting Three options exist for the home gardener to establish this plant in the landscape–seed germination, live plant transplanting, or rhizome division. Rhizome division and live-plant transplanting are easier, however, growing plants from seeds is a fun experiment, and seed-grown plants often exhibit unique characteristics because of their genetic variability. To grow this plant from seed, first stratify the seeds for 60-90 days in the refrigerator, or plant them directly into the garden in the fall. If using the fridge method, put seeds in an airtight container with sand that is moist but not soggy. Take the container out of the fridge once the 90 days are up, and plant seeds in a shady area after your last frost date. Cover them with a thin layer of soil no thicker than a quarter-inch. Keep seeds and their soil moist until they germinate. Seedlings quickly mature, although they may not flower their first year. After a summer aboveground and a winter belowground, your plants should sprout their famous heart-shaped flowers next spring. If you’re opting for transplanting or dividing, the process is a bit simpler. When dividing, first locate a mature clump. Then, in the fall, once the plant goes dormant, dig up part of the plant and sever the rhizomes. Plant the severed rhizomes a few inches deep in shady areas, and they’ll sprout and flower in the spring! Transplant potted live plants in the fall or spring when the weather is mild and temperatures are cool. This ensures your transplants have time to establish themselves before the summer heat arrives in full force. Water your plants well while they establish themselves, and continue irrigating throughout the growing season if rainfall is low. How to Grow Pacific bleeding hearts stand out as stately specimens in the shade garden. With dappled shade, ample water, and airy soil, your plants will thrive each year. Once established, these perennials are no-fuss ground covers with little maintenance. Maintenance This North American native plant requires little, if any, maintenance. Each year it dies back, and its foliage yellows and browns before falling to the floor. There, it decays and adds key nutrients back into the soil. When given space to freely roam, this perennial spreads and thrives with little intervention on the gardener’s part.