Home is where the herbs are

Homegrown herbs are becoming the next best thing to sliced bread. Growing herbs is part of an eco-friendly lifestyle — they attract beneficial pollinators to the garden and you can cook with and preserve your harvest, too. There is a surge of interest in fresh ingredients with global flavours that can be easily grown by busy people with small spaces.

There is more diversity than ever — literally hundreds and hundreds of culinary herbs to choose from — but basil is No.1 in popularity and mint runs a close second. Dispense with the micro garnish served on top of your potato salad and instead heap your plate with a generous side dish of freshly chopped soft-stemmed herbs such as basil, tarragon, mint or lemon balm.

We are drinking our containerized herb gardens like never before: herbal cocktails like gin basil smashes, cordials, green smoothies and craft drinks. One of the top 10 trends in edibles for 2019, according to Greenhouse Product News, is herbal teas. Take a moment to relax and unwind and nourish yourself with a soothing cup of herbal tea made from a blend of organically grown ingredients.

Jan Regehr, owner of Pineridge Hollow, grows her own tea garden at her farm, Oak Knoll Farm, which supplies many of the fresh ingredients for the restaurant at Pineridge Hollow. Some of the herbs she grows include Anise hyssop, bergamot, lemon balm, lemon verbena, mojito mint and teamaker hops.

Regehr also grows Sambucus Canadensis American Elderberry, which is native to North America. She uses the creamy flowers for cordials and liqueurs. To make homemade elderflower cordial, Regehr says you will need 15 heads of elderflower, 500 grams of caster sugar, 56 grams of clear or runny honey and two unwaxed lemons. Place the sugar and honey in a large saucepan with one litre of water. Gently bring to a boil until all the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat. Served with prosecco, Regehr says the flavour is fabulous.

This year, Regehr started growing holy basil for making tea. Holy basil is an ancient herb that is said to help reduce stress and anxiety. Delicious herb recipes including cordials and cocktails will be on the menu at the Floriography Garden Party, co-hosted by Pineridge Hollow and Ayoko Design on July 23 at Pineridge Hollow. Tickets are available at ayokodesign.com.

Owen Vanstone, owner of Vanstone Nurseries in Portage la Prairie, grows a diverse line of herbs that are carried at local greenhouses and says that basil is the most popular edible by a long shot. Sweet Italian Large Leaf basil is in steady demand, but there are numerous other varieties such as Everleaf basil and Pesto Perpetuo basil. Everleaf has a classic Genovese basil aroma, Vanstone says. Launched this spring, it is one of the best basils for patio production, he says, because it tends to be very upright in form and is slow to bloom.

"The perennial problem with some basil varieties," Vanstone says, "is that they go into flower and then the foliage loses some of its flavour."

Pesto Perpetuo basil produces copious amounts of leaves for cooking, but it’s also a beautiful choice for a patio container with its creamy white variegated leaves and columnar habit. It does not flower and will not bolt. I also like Bonsai El Greco basil, a grafted basil with a high leaf yield and the appearance of a clipped boxwood, which lends itself to unique container applications.

Dave Hanson, of Sage Garden Herbs, says Agastache is a culinary herb that is also well-suited to the ornamental landscape. A licorice-scented herbaceous perennial that is also known as Anise hyssop, Agastache is pronounced ag-ah-stak-ee. It was named the 2019 Herb of the Year by the International Herb Association. The leaves or flowers of Anise hyssop can be brewed, fresh or dried, into tea or the sprigs infused into the milk used to make ice cream.

Also known as licorice mint, Anise Hyssop has become so popular that its landscape appeal and pollinator-attracting abilities nearly trump its culinary uses. Numerous non-hardy Agastache hybrids are introduced each spring. Indeed, the ever-expanding Kudos hybrid series of Agastache from Terra Nova Nurseries is promoted for its dwarf habit, fragrant and disease-free foliage, and low-water usage.

For several years, I have been growing Agastache Golden Jubilee, a 2003 All America Selection flower winner that has golden-chartreuse foliage and spikes of lavender-blue florets. This reliably hardy, first-year-flowering herbaceous perennial was named to commemorate the 50 years’ reign of the Queen. Golden Jubilee brightens up the partial-shade garden and, once established, it stands up to hot, dry conditions.

This year, Hanson is carrying Agastache Mexicana Champagne, a unique non-hardy type with lemon-scented foliage and pastel-coloured spikes of tubular blooms in shades of cream, apricot and pink.

Edibles with a lemony scent or flavour fly off the shelves, Hanson says. Agastache Mexicana Sangria has lemon-scented foliage and whorls of edible crimson-purple blooms. The leaves can be used, fresh or dried, in tea or lemonade or in a syrup infusion, Hanson says. Non-hardy, it flowers profusely in the annual garden.

Lavender, of course, is the most romantic herb. Hardy lavender is the Holy Grail for cold-climate gardeners. "We’re always exploring lavender because there are so many new varieties coming on the market every year," Hanson says. Mainly the focus is on either the French or Spanish types of lavender with their short, fat spikes of deep purple flowers topped by butterfly wing bracts, he says, or first-year blooming English style lavender hybrids that are propagated from cuttings.

Hanson says he has had good success with overwintering a fragrant variety called Lavandula angustifolia Croxton’s Wild. "It’s a bit taller than Munstead English lavender and has flower spikes that are more purple in colour." Sage Garden Greenhouses grows several different varieties of lavender for growers in Ontario and British Columbia who use it to distil lavender essential oil. The oil is used in aromatherapy and can be very calming. Hanson also grows organically grown fresh-cut lavender bundles for agro-tourism markets in other provinces.

Last week, I toured the perennial trials at Vanstone Nurseries in Portage and saw numerous varieties of lavender being trialled. Vanstone says Lavandula Avignon Early Blue English lavender shows promise. A compact (25 to 30 centimetres) early blooming variety, Early Blue produces large, fragrant flower spikes on well-branched, bushy plants that work well in window boxes and garden beds.

Herbs also have cosmetic uses. Heather Urquhart owns Huna Skin Inc., a Winnipeg-based skin-care company (hunaskin.com). At her Skin Nutrition Gardens in southeast Manitoba, she grows more Calendula officinalis than any other plant grown for Huna’s skin-care products. In fact, Urquhart says, calendula is incorporated into nearly every single Huna skin-care formulation. Urquhart says calendula, also known as pot marigold, offers extraordinary benefits for skin health because of its anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antifungal and antiseptic properties. Calendula’s most prized benefit, she says, is its ability to promote rapid healing and regeneration of wounded and damaged skin.

The organically grown flowers are harvested by hand and incorporated into Huna’s product line shortly after in order to capture the herb’s potent phytonutrients and actives.

colleenizacharias@gmail.com