You might ask when the nursery's expect to have their herbs in. Some of the nurseries were just receiving their first shipments of tender plants. The nursery I normally use waits until about April 15 for their major shipments to arrive before that date they have to handle the plants too much to keep them in selling condition. I find that the first shipment of the season has the nicest plants but they seem to sulk more than the ones that arrive later in the month or even May.

Hello, I recently bought some pesto basil perpetuo from Burpee. The plants arrived the other day and they were in horrible shape. The leaves were ALL damaged, had brown spots on them and had many broken leaves. I removed the worst of the damage, but one of the plants now looks dead and the other two aren't far behind. The tops of the plants were bent over to make them fit into the shipping container, which was plastic and several leaves were mashed where the container was snapped closed on them. Is there anything I can do to save the two that are still alive? I am appalled at the horrible quality of the plants Burpee sent to me. I expected healthy, compact plants, not these leggy pitiful little plants. The link posted above--I went and looked in the links and couldn't find the basil perpetuo there. What should I look for in their catalogs? Thanks, Noss

More than likely it is Tuscan Blue or Santa Barbara. Two of the most common rosemary varieties grown for topiary Christmas trees in the nursery industry. They grow fast and in the nursery industry this is the 1st priority. I see no problem with you keeping it in a 3 foot tree shape as long as your willing to trim it 3-5 times a year. Our local post office has box hedged their rosemary over the last 10 years I have lived here in this part of Texas and these guys aren't pro's. As to your mint challenge have you consider a SWC (self watering container) it will give the moisture you need but you will have the soil volume of more like a 7 to 10 gallon container. Might be easier to keep it alive over the hot part of summer. Helps here in Texas quite a bit for other plants I have container challenges with in summer. Happy Growing David

I think just about the only two things that I always have in my pesto recipes is garlic and olive oil (and not necessarily extra virgin). I almost always use basil but I'll add to it for something special, such as some parsley, some cilantro, and especially if I'm going to use it with seafood, some fennel leaf. I don't personally like dill but I'm sure it would work fine in pesto. I almost always use pine nuts but I've found other nuts really good: Brazil nuts, almonds and even hazelnuts. For the cheese, I've been across the board. Parmigianno reggiano does it if I really want Italian flavor but I've frequently used asiago, gruyere, peccorino romano, cacciacovalo (like a well-aged provolone) and even aged swiss. For your peppers, I'd saute them and put them onto a sausage sandwich. Joe