Hello, I do have Borage and Lovage - but only about 4 seeds left of each.. I also have summer savory, and lime basil as well as lettuce leaf basil... Some other herbs too. What is it you have for trade? =) Angie

Ah, common names...Herbalists need to stick to botanical nomenclature! Pay attention to daisyduckworth's info clarifying the "tarragon" that is Tagetes lucida! This annual--T. lucida--in my zone 5 climate is, to me, a very acceptable substitute for A. dracunculus sativa. If I get it in early enough, I get flowers in late summer/fall. It'll even survive a light frost or 2. But as for successfully overwintering what we all are referring to as the seedless "true French tarragon," it seems to be a fairly short-lived perennial, but will be be more likely to make it in a raised bed rich with compost that will provide excellent drainage, especially in winter. Like lavender, tarragon resents "wet feet" and will not survive winter in wet ground. It also is rather slow to appear in the spring. Hope this helps without being too redundant... CK

Hi ,i just got a another new French Tarragon plant with me cz the 1st one that i bought was dead...so im wondering that did i grow it in the wrong way or i did not water the plant? so at the begining a month ago when i go the 1st French Tarragon, i put it under the cooling place cz im afraid that it will die due to the very humid and hot weather in my country in Malaysia which is from 32c to 38c during the afternoon,night time is around 26c.So i placed it in the toilet where there is very soft light from the window and i water twice a day, which the plant still look beautiful,then after 4 days in the toilet,i decided to move the plant to a bigger pot and leave it outside of my house which was still under the shadow but the wind will be slightly more warm and humid compare to the indoor shadow which is more cooling....so i left it outside of my house for about 10 days and it slowly turned brown from the bottom part then slowly to the top part,and at the end the whole plant was dead...i did water the plant every 3 days because i felt the soil was quite moisture under the shadow,so i dont dare to water it everyday.Base on my researched on wikipedia said that French Tarragon do not need alot of water but they do need " sunny pot and sun " which i did not really put it under the sun,so i would like to know that the death of the plant was cause by less water or no sun or too humid and heat? Now i got the new one here with me,and i still keep it in the toilet like my 1st place,i water twice a day and its been already 1 week now....so if i wana move it to a bigger pot like before,what advise would u give me to follow? So that i could grow it bigger and beautiful :)

Dave, I have no idea what the pH is. I'm sure the pH is similar to a tomato, since they are acidic tasting, but I would hate to "assume" anything about it. When I cook and preserve almost anything, such as my salsa, I tend to use a whole lot of acidic ingredients anyway, because I enjoy the sharp bite and then the contrast with something sweet (in the case of the salsa, I used about a cup of white vinegar plus 3 or 4 packets of dehydrated lemon juice to make 2 quarts of finished product, then added a teaspoon of citric acid just to be sure -- it's really more like a pickle relish than a salsa, actually). I wasn't worried about the food safety aspect of the salsa because of the high added acid, or at least, that batch was safe, it's been eaten with no ill results. I guess I should clarify in my request that it doesn't need to be a canned recipe, just a recipe idea in general, be it fresh, frozen, whatever. As far as the production, they definitely were not as productive as a cherry tomato, each plant probably gave a quart at most, but they were certainly interesting enough in their own right that I consider them a good "find." The plant is extremely attractive just as an ornamental, IMO -- the flowers look exactly like potato flowers, but are about 3 times the size, definitely pretty enought to qualify as an annual bedding plant. The only real drawback I saw was that the plant has vicious thorns, and harvesting the fruit was a painful experience about on par with dealing with thorny blackberry cultivars. Dennis SE Michigan