Cynthia Meredith has been gardening with herbs, reading about herbs, and discussing herb gardening in Texas for more than 20 years. She has owned The Herb Cottage ( www.theherbcottage.com ) for over 10 years, selling herb plants to people all over our state.

As fall continues with more rain and still greatly fluctuating temperatures, some of the best herbs are really coming into their own. Even though we've had quite a few warm days in between some picture-perfect fall days of cool, dry, sunny weather, the cool season annuals are thriving.

Cool season annuals are herb or flower crops that do not succeed in our hot, humid summer weather. These varieties need the lower temperatures of our fall, winter and early spring to be at their best. The most commonly grown herbs of the cool season annuals are cilantro, dill, arugula and chervil along with the edible flowers of calendula, violets and nasturtiums. If you're going to grow edible flowers, as with the herbs, be sure they haven't been treated with chemical pesticides or fungicides.

Photo courtesy of  HERBALPEDIA™

Photo courtesy of www.ehow.com

Cilantro likes a sunny spot to grow in. Water needs are average. The one issue with cilantro in our southern Texas area is that a few warm days during winter will cause the plant to bolt, or to send up a flower stalk. That signals the end of the regular growth of the plant. The leaves turn from the flat, parsley-like leaves to sort of a ferny appearance. 

Photo courtesy of www.fragrantfields.com
The cilantro plant is starting to bolt - notice the ferny leaves forming.

Umbrels of small white flowers appear at the top of the flower stalk. While the plant is in bloom, however, it is still usable. The ferny leaves can be used just as you would the flat leaves, and the flowers can also be eaten. The leaves and flowers also make a nice filler in a cut flower arrangement.

Photo courtesy of  HERBALPEDIA™  

If you let the plant flower and go to seed, the ripe seeds are known as the spice coriander.These are useful in baking and in Indian and Middle Eastern dishes. Invariably some seeds will fall from your plant and there you'll have more cilantro when the soil and moisture conditions are right for the seed to germinate. Or you can collect the seed to save and share with other gardeners or plant later. 

www.botanicalinterests.com
A packet of cilantro seeds is inexpensive and holds far more seeds than you need to plant at one time.

If you love the frightening allure of zombies and vampires, why not try a Halloween decorating scheme with the next best thing—black flowers. The somber flora in Black Plants, written by Paul Bonine who is the co-owner of Xera Plants, are far from the withered, dried image you’d normally equate with black flowers.

Instead, Bonine lists 75 species of black plants that range from distant and exotic Dracula orchids to the more familiar black hollyhocks. These flowers can add mystery and intrigue to your flower garden all year long. But most importantly, they work great for creating fabulous Halloween bouquets.

Photo Courtesy of Timber Press, Inc.

If you’d like more tips for creating a spooky Halloween garden of your own, check out Geraldine A. Laufer’s article Spooky Halloween Garden and get a head start on next year's Halloween decorations.

Photo by spike55151/Courtesy Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spike55151/

Have you grown black flowers in your garden before? What are some of your favorite Halloween plant decorations? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Q: Why are my herbs dying?

A: Many of our readers e-mailed us asking one main question: Why are my herbs dying?

At The Herb Companion, we thought we would resurrect our “Herb 911” series to cover additional herbs. Our past “Herb 911” entries included basil (Ocimum basilicum), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), mint (Mentha spp.), lavender (Lavandula spp.), and sage (Salvia officinalis). Let us know what herbs you are having a difficult time growing and we will try to cover it.

Thyme is a perennial herb that is hardy to dry and rugged terrain. For this reason, you can sometimes find it in the crevasse of a rock wall. It is often used as ground cover or in a raised bed in an herb garden. There are many reasons why thyme can take a turn for the worse; a few being sun exposure (or lack there of), poor location, amount of water and balanced soil.

Tips for Keeping your Thyme Alive

• If your thyme is lighter in color, it may be due to the location. Keep your thyme in a bright, sunny location that also has morning or afternoon shade. Make sure the location is also sheltered from winds.

• Balancing the soil is a trick and an often over looked step in overall plant care. If your thyme plant is looking bad, it might be the soil’s pH. Keep the pH level of the soil between 5.5 and 7.0 is ideal as the soil should be neutral to slightly basic. You can buy a pH test kit at your local nursery or hardware store.

• If the soil is well balanced and you’ve found the ideal location, the problem may be watering too much or not enough. Like other plant, the watering amount depends on the size, age and the location of the plant. Thyme ranges in sizes from 3 inches with an 18 inch spread to 14 inches with a spread of 3 feet—depending on if it is a shrub or creeping variety of thyme. Start with 2 to 3 cups of water once every three days and adjust from there. If you spot mold or fungus growing at the base of the plant, cut back on the water. If the soil is dry and flaky, this means you should add more water.

• Regardless of the variety, Thyme flourishes in warmer weather. If you are growing thyme either from seeds, divisions or cuttings, it is essential that the temperature does not go below 55 degrees. Usually propagation takes place just before the last frost, however, you can start now as long as they stay indoors or in a green house during the winter months.

Do you have problems growing thyme? What herbs do you have a difficult time growing? Let’s chat about it; drop me a comment or email me at snelson@ogdenpubs.com.

Cynthia Meredith has been gardening with herbs, reading about herbs, and discussing herb gardening in Texas for more than 20 years. She has owned The Herb Cottage ( www.theherbcottage.com ) for over 10 years, selling herb plants to people all over our state.

The early fall continues with ups and downs in temperatures and humidity. Nothing unusual for this part of Texas this time of year. Today it's very warm and humid with a moist southeast wind right off the gulf. If I didn't have a calendar, I might think it was still summer. That is, if I didn't look outdoors at the herb garden.

With the shorter days and the cooler nights we've had, plus all the rain, the herb plants are growing in leaps and bounds. My Greek oregano, which was pruned heavily in August, is now almost as large as it was before pruning, minus the flower stalks. The garlic chives ,which were looking very puny during the drought with very small clumps and no new growth, are now big and healthy. Some are even starting to put on flower stalks. The ones I dug and potted for sales are looking great, too. Garlic chives are such a hardy herb. It's sometimes called Chinese leeks. In Chinese grocery stores, the budded flower stalks are sold as "Gow Choy". I use the flowers in salads and herbal vinegars and I use the leaves in tuna salad, eggs, soups, green salads, potato salads, and baked potatoes.  

Another herb that is growing profusely is soapwort (Saponaria officinalis). It is a low-growing, ground cover type of plant that runs as vigorously as mint, if not more so. It puts on a pretty pink flower in the late summer most years. This year, I guess the heat was just too much for it because it did not flower much. I did cut it back to the ground in August because it was looking very peaked. Now, the growth is thick and lush green. It spreads by underground runners and is intruding into the salad bed I planted nearby.

Original soapwort bed. See it creeping out!!

The leaves and roots of soapwort are not edible, but the leaves and the roots are used to make a mild soap. The roots have the highest concentration of the soap-making component called saponin. The most common method for making soap is to add two handfuls of the plant, with or without the roots, to about 3 cups of water and simmer the mixture for about half an hour; strain out the plant matter. You now have a soapy liquid you can use as shampoo, as soap for the bath or to wash antique linens and lace.

Soapwort flower.

It is said that the Romans used soapwort to soften water in their baths, the Syrians used it for washing wool products, and the Swiss used it to bathe their sheep before shearing. The National Trust in Britain used soapwort for decades to clean delicate tapestries and linens because most modern detergents were too harsh. It has also been used as a treatment for psoriasis and acne.

The soapwort is coming up at the base of this licorice plant (Glycyrrhiza glabra).

The plant can be somewhat invasive if it is happy in the garden. It is hardy to Zone 6 and is evergreen in my garden. I like it even though it likes to come up in neighboring areas. It does quite nicely in a big pot, and that's a good way to grow it to keep it under control.

If I had a greener thumb or more dispensable income I would fill my house with fresh cut flowers everyday. Instead I only buy cut flowers on special occasions and struggle to keep them alive for as long as possible until finally surrendering to their wilted petals and hanging them up to dry. The bouquets I get are usually from the local co-op or farmers market and don’t normally come with commercial preservatives like store-bought flowers. But a couple of days ago I found an interesting solution. 

After dining with my aunt, she gave me an arrangement of some of the beautiful, golden mums that I’d been admiring in her yard and told me to add a little bit of hydrogen peroxide and sugar to their water. I must have looked confused because she quickly explained that the hydrogen peroxide helps to kill bacteria and the sugar gives nutrients. Luckily, I had both hydrogen peroxide and sugar at home, so I quickly added it to the mums’ water and to another bouquet of flowers from a few days earlier.

Photo by gregw/Courtesy Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregw/

For now the wilting of my older flowers seems to have stalled and the mums still look bright and fresh, but I’m going to wait a couple more days before I give this method my full approval. Actually, homemade floral preservatives are relatively respected according to The University of New Hampshire’s Cooperative Extension. In fact, they recommend using the soft drink Sprite diluted with equal parts water or combining 4 teaspoons of cane sugar with 2 tablespoons of white distilled vinegar.

Photo by Compton & Wright/Courtesy Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/comptonwright/

Whether you make your own natural preservatives, buy them at the store or go preservative-free, experts at The University of Minnesota and The University of New Hampshire Extensions agree that you have to change the water and trim the stems daily if you want your fresh cut flowers to last a while. Once again proving that there are no true shortcuts to success in life or in gardening – it just takes time and labor. 

Have you made your own floral preservatives before? What method worked best? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Cynthia Meredith has been gardening with herbs, reading about herbs, and discussing herb gardening in Texas for more than 20 years. She has owned The Herb Cottage ( www.theherbcottage.com ) for over 10 years, selling herb plants to people all over our state.

Well, it's October. I love the month of October. In my area it's still hot some days... like today, for instance. It's quite warm, near 90 degrees and very humid. I'm hoping for a rain shower today as it is clouding up. As October continues the days become noticeably shorter, cooler and the sun has a golden glow that infuses the garden and landscape with a warm feel. Soon, it will be time to put cold tender plants under cover for winter.

With all the rain we've had recently, almost 7 inches for the month of September, the yard and gardens are blowzy with growth and new flowers. It looks like it did in spring after we had almost 7 inches of rain in 3 days.

  
Podrangea in full flower after the rains at The Herb Cottage.

So much new growth. Climbing pinkie rose in background with new leaves (flowers to come) at The Herb Cottage.

The roses have put on new leaves, as have the fig trees. Everything is growing so quickly. It's as if the energy from the sun stored in the plants over the summer is surging out due to the rain. Perhaps the plants know cold weather isn't too far off and they want to grow as much as possible in order to strengthen the root system and be strong for next spring.

As I wrote last issue, the weeds are also enjoying a resurgence. For instance, I have a bumper crop of purslane (Portulaca olearacea), also an edible weed like the Lamb's Quarters I wrote about last week.

Purslane, Portulaca olearacea.
Photo courtesy of www.wildmanstevebrill.com

Purslane is not so much a seasoning herb as it is a vegetable-type plant. The leaves are eaten fresh in salads, and steamed, or sauteed, as a side dish. The flavor is a bit lemony, some say peppery, and the texture is crunchy. One of the most amazing properties of purslane is that it is very high in calcium and Omega-3 fatty acids (five times that of spinach). Also, the stems are high in vitamin C.

Purslane buds and leaves.
Photo courtesy of www.wildmanstevebrill.com

In Latin America, purslane is known as verdolaga and it is very popular. It is also commonly used in the Mediterranean in soups and salads and is also found in the cuisines of Africa, Australia, China and India. In fact, it is used worldwide, and is just beginning to be known in America as anything other than a weed.

The crispy leaves are easy to prepare fresh with just olive oil, a bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper. Some added basil doesn't hurt either! Purslane can't really be preserved for future eating, the texture of the plant doesn't hold up. But, the leaves can be dried and used in soups, etc. Just 10 grams of dry leaves provides 500 mg of elemental calcium, which studies have shown to increase bone density in less than 18 months, according to information adapted from books by Dr. James Duke and an article by Sukhi Hertz.

So, while you may not want a whole garden filled with portulaca, it is a prolific reseeder and creeper. You might want to grow it in a large container away from your garden beds or keep a patch or two for kitchen use. It's good for you, it likes Texas heat and humidity, it grows with little water....and it's free!

Cucumber-Purslane Yogurt Salad

• 5 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cut into quarter-round slices
• 1/4 pound purslane, large stems removed, washed and drained well
• 2 tablespoons each, Fresh chopped mint, cilantro and chervil
• 4 cups whole milk yogurt
• 1/4 cup virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, puréed with the blade of a knife
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• Kosher salt
• Ground glack pepper

1. Place the cucumber, purslane and herbs into a large bowl. In another bowl, stir together the yogurt, olive oil and garlic, coriander and season to taste with salt.

2. Add the yogurt mixture to the vegetables and mix well. Add a pinch of ground black pepper.

3. Taste the dressed cucumber-purslane salad for seasoning, adding a little more salt if needed. Serve chilled.

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