There is new fairly new type now that doesn't bolt and set blossoms. It has a yellowish tinge in the edges of the leaves. You can read more about it in the rest of the recent basil posts.

I think you would be speaking of Pesto Perpetuo. It's a hybrid, doesn't bloom or set seed (it's patented), so doesn't need to be deadheaded to remain delicious. I'm growing it this year, and it's lovely. I'm told it can be overwintered indoors, with proper lighting. Year-round basil....what could be better?

So both of your favorite is the pesto perpetuo? I haven't yet gotten the chance to try that. Right now, my favorite is the Columnar basil, simply because of just how productive it is. It'll make a three foot diameter bush if you keep pinching it back, and it's fairly slow to bolt, so I'm able to make a whole batch of pesto from one plant.

Most all of my basil has grown to about 3-4 foot tall and quite bushy. About the only one that was short, at about 1 foot tall, were the amaller leaved Genovese type. According to some of the experts out there, if you allow the flowers to form, as well as pinching them off, the leaves still tend to get bitter. An early harvest would yield the best flavored, and can be dried.

I love the Genovese and am growing it also, but I am trying the pesto perpetuo that was mentioned. The plant becomes quite dense and bushy when pinched back early, and the flavor is quite wonderful. So far, so good.

I've actually been hearing mixed reviews of the pesto perpetuo. Everyone's saying it's gorgeous, but as for versitility, you have Burpee saying it can do anything, and you have some other people saying it's fun and bushy but too lemony or grassy for pesto. I certainly love the concept of a perennial basil, but I'm not going to devote an extra grow lamp to it if it can't give me better pesto than the stuff I freeze. I know you feel the flavor is wonderful, though, herbaholic. Is it a full-bodied basil flavor?

Carduus....I had never heard it being described as "grassy" and basil can never been too lemony for me. That's part of the basil thing I love. Yes, I would say it's very full-bodied. Might be too "basily" (is that a word? lol) for some though.

Interested...what type of plants are you growing under grow lamps and what type of grow lamps are you using, and how long do your herbs get light?

Right now? I don't have anything under my grow light other than my backup tomato and pepper plants if the ones I've planted falter. But late fall through May, I overwinter all my perennial herbs (various mints, thymes, oreganos, sages, bay tree, chives, etc.) under a pair of four foot fluorescent plant-spectrum bulbs on a sixteen hour light/eight hour dark cycle, and it can get pretty crowded under there. So to overwinter something that's described as getting fairly big, I'd need another light to keep it alive, and I'm not sure I want to devote the resources if it isn't really good.

I understand. You could always get a small plant (they're cheap enough at the nursery) try it out, and see if you like it...keep it small, keep trimming it back.

Since I've read that perpetuo does overwinter indoors with the proper light and nutrients, I'll need to be thinking about some sort of artificial light come that time. But for now, ah...it's spring and summer to come. So much sunshine!

My favorite by far is Osmin. It's a purple, so maybe some purists wouldn't want to rank it first for that reason, but it has the most exquisite flavor of all basil. Every year for about 10 years, I've tested and retested to make sure, and I'm always surprised by how extraordinary it is. It is the only basil - and I have tasted just about everything available - that has this elusive perfumey flavor that is impossible to describe. It has some similarity maybe to Cinnamon basil's flavor in a way, but not sweet and cloying like Cinnamon.

Its big selling point is its high proportion of all purple seedlings, but the flavor is the reason to get it, IMO. I will say it is uniquely beautiful, recognizable from a distance, because it has a unique glossy sheen the other purple cultivars lack. It almost appears to be black.

Its only fault is its relative lack of vigor. Doesn't produce much. We grow a ton of basil every year and make different pestos with it, and I love to make an all Osmin pesto - a real luxury, but I also like to mix it with Genovese, which is probably the second best basil, IMO. We think Genovese is the best green, but sometimes grow a more productive one - like Napoletano or just regular Sweet (Common) basil for fill, or for a lighter flavor. Genovese is really spicy, kind of hot.

For lemon cultivars, I like Sweet Dani the best.

Does anyone think Napoletano and Red Rubin taste like burnt rubber?