herbs

Rosemary Delights the Senses

July 7, 2026 by stephenbrueggerhoff

Stephen Brueggerhoff, CEA – Horticulture, Brazos County AgriLife Extension; published 7/07/2026

All images unless otherwise noted by Stephen Brueggerhoff

My garden is a delight to walk through in high summer, with six rosemary varieties easily offering a welcome and pleasant fragrance as I brush by in morning walks. Rosemary is a joy to cultivate, a feeling of connection I imagine I share with ancestors over millennia for its fragrance, medicinal and culinary use. Rosemary is a versatile woody shrub that delights the senses that I am confident you can grow in your garden.

Successfully Growing Rosemary

Rosemary Hill's Hardy image — Rosemary ‘Hill’s Hardy’

Rosemary has a natural distribution in rocky, well-draining soil of the coastal hills in the Mediterranean region and has ancient roots from southern Europe to southwest Asia. Modern cultivation has popularized this noble species and is considered a foundational plant often seen in a dooryard garden in USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 7 and warmer. Depending on your soil texture and for those experiencing annual cold and wet winter, you may have to curate rosemary in a raised bed or in a container. Most varieties can manage through a minor freeze event. Rosemary performs best in slightly acidic soil measured from 6.5 to 7 pH. Successful growing is best in well-draining sandy loam. The plant is susceptible to root rot in saturated soil. Allow the soil to dry slightly between water application and always adjust for seasonal rain.

Rosemary performs admirably in full sun and may lean a bit toward the light if placed in dappled shade. Most varieties have an upright growth habit. While some of the species are reported to reach 6 feet, from my experience cultivated varieties seldom reach more than 4 feet tall. The exceptions are plants identified as prostrate rosemary, almost acting like a groundcover with stems that arch and creep along to over 2 feet long.

These botanical beauties have changed taxonomically to Salvia rosmarinus (ca. 2017) and are associated with the Mint Plant Family (Lamiaceae), offering clusters of needle-like evergreen leaves arranged opposite each other on square stems. Like their familial relatives, rosemary produces two-lipped flowers primarily in shades of light blue. Propagating rosemary from seed takes patience to grow to a reasonable size. They can be easily rooted from semi-woody cuttings and are often the ‘go-to’ plant for basic lessons in plant propagation.

A Fragrance to Remember

All rosemary has the unique characteristic of bold and spicy fragrance, with terms like pungent, camphor, and resinous like a pine tree. Technically, the scent is provided by oils contained in microscopic hair-like glands called trichomes that are distributed along stems and leaves. I think of the scent as being uplifting to the spirit. We have a variety in the backyard that my wife has claimed as the hugging shrub, a daily activity enticing a pleasing aroma and making daily stress fade into the background. The following is a review of a few varieties that may fit your growing conditions and gardening lifestyle.

Rosemary variety Blue Rain image — Rosemary ‘Blue Rain’

‘Blue Rain’ is a procumbent selection trailing to 2 feet, stems arching around 8-inches tall. This selection offers pale blue flowers and is purported to have a longer bloom period than most varieties.

‘Gorizia’, named after an Italian town where it was found, bounds with an upright growth producing long straight stems that can be used as a skewer for grilled vegetables. It is also called ‘Barbeque Skewers’ and adopted into the Texas A&M AgriLife Texas Superstar® program in 2021. Foliage is twice the size of the average rosemary and has the potential to create a waist-high hedge in the right place.

‘Hill’s Hardy’ and ‘Arp’, are two cold tolerant varieties that can manage exposed to short duration freeze events into the teens. ‘Hill’s Hardy’ has a silver cast to the stems and foliage, and in my backyard grows shrubbier and spreads a bit.

‘Spice Island’ is a culinary delight, offering lime-green foliage with a rich scent favored for use in the kitchen. It has an upright growth that can reach to 4 feet, manageable in a garden with ample space. There is a comparable variety named ‘Chef’s Choice’ that is described as more compact and appropriate for growing in a container on the patio for ease of access.

Rosemary Hill's Hardy and Tuscan Blue image — L to R – ‘Hill’s Hardy’ & ‘Tuscan Blue’

‘Tuscan Blue’ produces clusters of small periwinkle-colored flowers that can contrast well with its lime to dark green foliage. Note that all rosemary is attractive to pollinators when in flower.

Rosemary is an unforgettable shrub that you can fold into your landscape. Aggie Horticulture is a great resource focusing on individual herbs and accessed online: aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable. Choose the link to Easy Gardening Fact Sheets that hosts a library of publications reviewing herb varieties. The Herb Society of America – Pioneer Unit is an outstanding regional chapter that meets regularly in Brenham, Round Top and Burton and will host programs open to the public. Find more info about their activities at: www.herbsocietypioneer.org. I invite you to share your ideas and successes in your garden and join me for my live call-in garden show Garden Success airing weekly on Thursdays at 12 pm on KAMU-FM 90.9. Remember rosemary to bring flavor and health and I look forward to seeing you in the garden.

Basil is the King of Herbs

May 14, 2026 by stephenbrueggerhoff

Stephen Brueggerhoff, CEA – Horticulture, Brazos County AgriLife Extension; published 5/12/2026

All images unless otherwise noted by Stephen Brueggerhoff

There are several culinary herbs that are staples in my kitchen such as basil, rosemary and thyme. All are often stored in dry form and sometimes neglected until we come upon a recipe that requires their attention. Fortunately, herbs retain essential oils when dried and bring spark to a home cooked meal at a moment’s notice. Depending on storage conditions, the shelf life of a home-dried herb can remain viable for up to one year, while commercially dried herbs are estimated to be useful for up to two years. I find basil is best used as a fresh cut herb, imparting a familiar flavor and scent that you cannot replicate in dried form.

A Royal Herb with Ancient Origin

Basil 'African Blue' image — Basil ‘African Blue’

Basil (botanical name Ocimum basilicum) is a semi-woody annual used for its aromatic leaves as a foundation for pesto or to spice up your pizza. While basil has worldwide use and appeal, evidence of its origin is complex. According to Rutgers University through the US Basil Consortium website, usbasilconsortium.rutgers.edu/, estimates of origin are the African continent and India, eventually migrating to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. The species name basilicum is traditionally interpreted from the ancient Greek term for king, imparting a royal presence in the garden.

Basil is herbaceous and varies in height, form, leaf texture, color and scent. We often start them from seed indoors about a month prior to the last anticipated frost. Sow about one-quarter inch deep in seed-starting media in a tray and provide bottom heat through a horticultural heating mat. Cotyledons, the primary leaf-like structure of a seedling, will emerge within ten days. Basil is a warm season plant and responds to sowing directly in the ground when the soil temps are consistent in mid-spring.

Basil is Bold and Beautiful in the Garden

Cultivars can be bold in stature and flavor, and exhibit large, sweet anise-flavored leaves measuring 3-inches long by 2-inches wide. Most of these types are generically named Sweet or Green-leaf basil, and the preferred of the large-leaved varieties is one named ‘Genovese’. Bees and other pollinators are attracted to the wands of flowers and, depending on the varietal, flowers vary in color from white to bright purple. One outstanding in its field of the Genovese types is ‘Cardinal’, offering clustered deep purple flowers that form a bouquet and draw your eye to the landscape. Consider height as some of the basil’s previously described provide a canopy up to 2 feet tall. On the opposite end of the spectrum is a small-leaved, uniform and compact basil ‘Boxwood’, coming in at 10 inches in height and more appropriate in the edible landscape as a garden border.

A variety with promise and disease resistance released within the last several years is called ‘Everleaf Emerald Towers’. This herb is a tall drink of water, columnar in growth and averaging up to 3 feet tall and retaining the pleasantly bold taste of a ‘Genovese’ basil. While most basil will focus energy on flower and seed production within a month of growth, ‘Emerald Towers’ is delayed in bloom later than standard varieties, the advantage is continual harvest through the summer. If you like a bit of bite out of your basil, try ‘Perpetuo Pesto’, a variegated form with lime-green foliage and each leaf expressing a thin, white color along the margin.

Basil 'Perpetuo Pesto' image — Basil ‘Perpetuo Pesto’

‘Perpetuo Pesto’ grows in a somewhat bushy, columnar habit to 2-feet tall and can be found as a 4-inch container start. Companies offering this plant for sale market it as sterile and not producing flowers, which means the plant you purchase has been vegetatively propagated. The variety I grew out a few years ago wasn’t paying attention to the rule book and expressed delicate mauve flowers but did not produce seed. I found the foliage perfect for making pesto, its spicy flavor reducing the need for excessive garlic. If you are steadfast in deadheading your basil to reduce loss of foliage flavor, take heart that you can grow out variety ‘African Blue’ and cultivate it as a pollinator plant. ‘African Blue’ is grown not so much for its flavor, more for the aesthetics of the dark-purple leaf veins and stems, and primarily for profuse wands sporting pink flowers that attract bees and other flying insects to the bounty.

You can tell I love to grow herbs for use in the kitchen as well as for my garden pleasure, and I will focus future articles on the variety of different types of herbs that you can incorporate into your home landscape. Aggie Horticulture provides Easy Gardening fact sheets cultivating herbs from our website: aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable. The Herb Society of America – Pioneer Unit is an outstanding regional chapter that meets regularly in Brenham, Round Top and Burton and hosts monthly educational programs. Find more info about their activities at: www.herbsocietypioneer.org. Speaking of education, Brazos County Master Gardeners are offering a free seminar Creating Keyhole Gardens and Raised Beds on May 16, starting at 10 am at the Clara B. Mounce Public Library in Bryan. This is the first of our Learning at the Library series, a great program designed to help your gardening success. Find out more from the Brazos County Master Gardener website – txmg.org/brazos. Let the spice of herbs bring flavor and health to you and I look forward to seeing you in the garden.

Herbs – The Spice of Life

October 14, 2025 by stephenbrueggerhoff

By Stephen Brueggerhoff, CEA – Horticulture, Brazos County AgriLife Extension; published 06/18/2025

Culinary herbs have fascinated and fulfilled my senses through the decades, the way airy globe-shaped clusters of dill flowers seem to frolic in a light breeze, the clean camphor aroma sensed from brushing against a stand of rosemary, or the surprising stack of white-colored flowers peeking through long-stemmed oregano. I do value outstanding flavor enhancement that herbs bring by helping use less salt, fat and sugar in our diets, a practice that follows health and nutrition programs offered through our Family and Community Health Agent Flora Williams. Flora hosts Cooking Well for Healthy Blood Pressure, offering interactive sessions including cooking with spices and herbs. To find out more and check on the offerings on our calendar, browse online: brazos.agrilife.org/events.

Landscaping with plants like Basil

While I enjoy including herbs in my daily meals, I also want to remind our readers of the benefits of adding herbs as an accent to the landscape. There is a gardening trend referred to as edible landscaping, a practice that brings a unique approach to garden design. Treating herbs as you would ornamental plants in a garden design has advantages. Herbs come in various heights, leaf texture, and leaf and flower color. Several varieties that I will focus on include basil, variegated thyme and oregano.

Basil ‘Cardinal’, Image: Stephen Brueggerhoff

Basil (botanical name Ocimum basilicum) is a semi-woody annual used for its aromatic leaves as a foundation for pesto or to spice up your pizza. Cultivars can be bold in stature and flavor, and exhibit large, sweet anise-flavored leaves measuring 3-inches long by 2-inches wide. Most of these types are generically named with titles like Sweet or Green-leaf basil, and the preferred of the large-leaved varieties is one named ‘Genovese’, a tad stronger in flavor than Sweet. Bees and other pollinators are attracted to the wands of flowers and depending on the varietal flowers vary in color from white to bright purple. One outstanding in its field (pun intended) of the Genovese types is ‘Cardinal’, offering clustered deep purple flowers that form a bouquet and draw your eye to the landscape. Consider height as some of the basil’s previously described provide a canopy up to 2 feet tall. On the opposite end of the spectrum is a small-leaved, uniform and compact basil ‘Boxwood’, coming in at 10 inches in height and more appropriate in the edible landscape as a garden border.

Regarding landscape design, you may consider mixing up your color palette with dark purple-leaved varieties. ‘Purple Ruffles’ offers an almost black frilly skirt with extremely wavy margins on large, pointed leaves and standing at attention at 1.5 feet tall. ‘Purple Ruffles’ has a fragrance and flavor stronger than Sweet Basil. ‘Petra Dark Red’ offers large, glossy, dark purple-red and a bit more tame leaves (margins are less crenulate) with a very faint undercoating of pale green and mild, sweet taste. This basil canopy also reaches 1.5 feet. Letting this plant form flower stalks add to the contrast, with deep, purple-colored wands dancing in the wind.

Keeping up with the thymes

Variegated Lemon Thyme, Image: Stephen Brueggerhoff

Thyme is an evergreen sub-shrub, some varieties raising up to 20-inches while others grow in a creeping, mat-forming habit. Leaves are very small, typically no more than one-eighth inch wide with numerous oil glands that offer a pleasingly pungent smell. Thyme should be planted in full sun with well-draining soil and will rot in place if left in saturated soil. Thyme offers a distinctive peppery taste and can be used either fresh or dry in soups, stews, stuffing and poultry dishes. According to the University of Illinois Extension, its flavor and fragrance will remain with long, slow cooking. One variety offering outstanding contrast is a Broadleaf Thyme (Thymus pulegioides) variety ‘Foxley’. This variety offers bright white variegation on rounded leaves and has the potential to mound up to 12-inches. Planted in the landscape, you can combine ‘Foxley’ with variety ‘Silver Queen’ Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus), preferred for its rich lemon-scented leaves and pale lilac-colored flowers. Another herb with cream-colored leaf margins is Variegated Oregano (Origanum vulgare), growing up to 12-inches tall by 2-feet wide, offering white flowers and tasting milder than common oregano.

This article just begins to scratch the surface of the variety of different types of herbs that one can incorporate into their home landscape. Aggie Horticulture is a great resource focusing on individual herbs and accessed online: aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable. Choose the link to Easy Gardening Fact Sheets that hosts a library of publications reviewing herb varieties. The Herb Society of America – Pioneer Unit is an outstanding regional chapter that meets regularly in Brenham, Round Top and Burton and will host programs open to the public. Find more info about their activities at: www.herbsocietypioneer.org. I invite you to share your ideas and successes in your garden and join me for my live call-in garden show Garden Success airing weekly on Thursdays at 12 pm on KAMU-FM 90.9. Let the spice of herbs bring flavor and health to you and I look forward to seeing you in the garden.