Vol. I, 2. 

About Our Newsletter - This free newsletter is devoted to educating our subscribers and customers on various aspects of herbs. It will include such varied subjects as: a focus on a particular herb (or its genus), growing and harvesting tips, cooking with herbs and accompanying recipes, recommendations on organic growing, and any other thoughts that happen to be crossing our minds as we go to print. We may occasionally mention special promotions on the herbs we sell, but this in not the primary purpose of our newsletter. However we are entitled to sneak in an occasional shameless plug for our nursery.

And now on to our newsletter...

In this issue: 1) Herb Quiz 2) Lingle’s Musings
3) ‘Collector’ Plants - You Don’t Have to Do Anything with Them 4) Organic Growing Guide: Fertilizing Basil 5) Basil Recipe-Pesto

This Issues Herb Quiz:

1) From what plant does the saying "Don’t rest on your laurels" come? 2) What herb is responsible for the expression ‘to look for a needle in a haystack’? 3) What is the principal herb used in vermouth? (Answers at the end of this newsletter.)

Lingle’s Musings

Summer is alive and well and living in Southern California! (We didn’t have much of a Spring.) After a wild, wacky, wet and windy winter, we Southern Californians can now get back to our official state pastime--bragging about the weather. It’s a rite we’ve missed. We spent years listening with some degree of apathy when people in online chat rooms asked how to protect their rosemary from winter freezes, while we in Southern California use it as an evergreen groundcover. But this winter, we found ourselves eating some rather unpalatable (and un-defrosted) crow. El Nino gave us some much-needed humility. We lost our suntans, we had to put away our short pants for months, we discovered that flip-flops are not suited to treading flooded streets, and that galoshes is not a Hungarian recipe.

We had plants in our gardens die from frost and drowning. We had powdery mildew beset our beloved rosemary groundcover, from too much water. (We didn’t even know that rosemary got powdery mildew!) We couldn’t even plant our basil until mid-April! Our Californian friends called us to bemoan the bad weather with such heart-felt lamentations as, "Yo, Dude, like... this weather is way gnarly!"

But, more importantly, all the rough weather in Southern California last winter gave the staff at Lingle’s Herbs a greater compassion for the plight through which many of our friends and customers undergo every winter. It has given us a greater appreciation of the tenacity of many of the herbs we grow, and a greater understanding of their behavior in cooler climes. We have had to provide winter protection for tender plants, replace a few tender perennials, and address the powdery mildew on our remaining rosemary groundcover that hasn’t washed away into the ocean.

But now, washed away are our horticultural haughtiness and our arboricultural arrogance! Never again will the tribulations of harsh winter weather fall on a Californian's deaf ears. We can now truly emphasize with our friends’ bouts with bad weather. We are humbled.

And now, there are some friends in Iceland whom we have to call, to brag about our weather!

Thanks for reading,

John Lingle
Lingle’s Herbs

‘Collector’ Plants - You Don’t Have to ‘Do’ Anything with Them

Herbs are known as the ‘useful’ plants. We use them for such things as cooking, fragrance, medicine, dye, and fiber. Many of the culinary herbs are staples in the kitchen, such as bay leaves, and the well-stocked pantry would never be without them. The lavenders and scented geraniums make wonderful potpourris, and reward us with their heady aromas every time we water or brush by them. We keep a marvelous medicinal herb, aloe vera, just outside the kitchen door for fast treatment of kitchen burns. Many crafters use a variety of dye plants to color their beautiful works. And most of us have at least one article of clothing in our closets made with some ramie.

But what about the herbs that we at Lingle’s call ‘collector plants’? These plants have no daily use. We don’t eat or smell or wear them. Then what is their attraction?

In addition to their delightful physical attributes, there are volumes of fascinating stories and history that accompany many of the plants found in an herb garden.

To us, the allure of herbs lies not just in their practical uses, but also in their intellectual attraction. Lingle’s Herbs offers a number of plants which, while they do not necessarily offer any practical use, merit growing for their rich historic or anecdotal properties. Some of these plants have charming stories of their old uses, which are no longer utilized today. Other of our ‘collector’ plants are harvested in other parts of the world and, due to climactic or economical reasons, are not practical for harvesting in America. But we can still grow these plants here. We also offer some unusual plants used in Latin American ritual. And lastly, we offer some rather lurid, and poisonous, plants with fascinating histories (plants which must be grown with caution).

So here is a brief discussion of some of the more unusual herbs we offer. We hope you find them as interesting as we do.

Some of the plants we grow at Lingle’s attracted us with their enchanting, historic uses. Among these is Costmary / Bibleleaf / Alecost (Tanacetum balsamita). With its pretty silver-green, oblong, mint-scented leaves, this plant was once used to flavor ale, hence the common name alecost. The charm of this plant is that the Puritans used the leaves as scented bookmarks in their Bibles. Puritan sermons would go on for hours, and sometimes days. When members of the congregation would start to fatigue and doze off, they would pull the costmary leaves from their Bibles and take a whiff to revive them. Hence the common name Bibleleaf. You can still dry the leaves and make delightful mint-scented bookmarks, and amuse your friends with the story of this plants historical use.

Although Lamb’s Ears (Stachys byzantina), has little qualification as a ‘herb’ today, its gray leaves are covered with a soft white wool which resembles the ears of a lamb in touch and appearance. Lamb’s ears did have a viable use as an herb, when it was used during the American Civil War to bandage soldier’s wounds. The silvery cast of the plant makes for lovely contrast in the garden. Lamb’s Ears makes a delightful petting plant for children, and is great in a moonlight garden.

Cardamom (Eletaria cardamomum), is the third most expensive spice in the world. The plant has long, green leaves that have a wonderful fragrance of allspice and cinnamon, and resemble a ginger plant. We call it a ‘collector’ plant because it rarely, if ever, blooms and pods in North America, so it is unlikely that you will ever obtain an appreciable harvest of the spice cardamom. But cardamom makes a delightfully scented house plant, as it requires shade. And just rubbing and smelling the leaves in an aromatic treat! Our Lingle’s Herbs Test Kitchen is planning some culinary experiments of rapping the spice-scented leaves around chicken and fish, and then grilling or steaming them. We hope that the leaves will impart some of their ‘flavor’ to the meat. We’ll let you know how these tests come out!

Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin) is one of the most popular fragrances in the world. It is also one of the most popular perfumes in the Orient, and especially India. The heavy, distinctive scent of patchouli was made famous, or infamous, during the hippie generation of the 60’s, primarily for its use of masking the scent of other herbs…particularly other burning herbs... Patchouli is regarded as the strongest plant scent in the world--a fact to which anyone encountering someone wearing it will attest. By just rubbing a few leafs in your hands, the scent may stay with you through three showers! If you enjoy the scent of patchouli, you’ll love this plant.

Looking like a lily, Blackberry Lily / Leopard Lily (Belamcamda chinesis) is a Chinese medicinal herb (She-gan). It has stunning orange and red blooms which look like brilliant leopard skin. The blooms then develop into shiny black seed clusters which resemble large blackberries. First mentioned in the Shen Nong Canon of Herbs, c. AD25, this beautiful plant is an attention-getter in any garden. But again, not many ‘practical’ uses for this plant… Unless you’re afflicted by "rice-field dermatitis," a fungal skin infection common among paddyfield workers, for which this plant is a cure! Well, if you buy your rice in boxes and bags as we do, just grow blackberry lily for its beautiful flowers and unusual seed clusters.

One of our favorite ‘unusual’ herbs here at Lingle’s Herbs is Chaste Tree / Monk’s Pepper (Vitex agnus-castus). This fast growing, showy shrub has masses of lilac flowers and aromatic leaves. Chaste Tree affects the hormonal balance in both men and women. The common names come from the long use of the plant to subdue the libido in monks. In monasteries, the monks would grind the seeds of this plant and use it as a condiment like pepper. This would lower their libido and help them preserve their chastity. Hence the common name ‘chaste tree’, and the botanical name agnus-castus, or ‘chaste of the lamb’. In 1633, John Gerard wrote in The Herbal, "It withstandeth all desire to the flesh." But excess use causes a nerve disorder known as ‘formication’—the sensation of insects crawling under the skin. (Certainly, with this herb, not to be confused with ‘fornication’.) Recent studies show it is a valuable plant in regulating female hormones upon the discontinuation of oral contraceptives. Merits growing just for the interesting history of the plant. Perhaps it could be marketed as the herbal antidote to Viagra! But it probably wouldn’t be a very big seller…

The roots of Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) were once used to make soft lozenges (pâté de guimauve) which were the original "marshmallows". The healing properties of marshmallow have been recorded since the ninth century BC. It has been used for numerous internal and external ailments, including inflammation and ulceration of the digestive track, asthma, whooping cough, gingivitis, and the peeled roots are a traditional aid for teething children. (It was basically used treat the alimentary canal from one end to the other.) And apparently a whole lot healthier than the horse hoof and sugar confections known as marshmallows today. Marshmallow has pretty, pale pink flowers, and likes damp soil.

A wonderful herb with a great history, Scurvy Grass (Cochlearia officinalis) is very high in vitamin C. It was carried on British ships centuries ago and rationed out to the sailors to prevent scurvy. The British seamen acquired the nickname ‘limeys’ because they carried fresh limes on their ships and ate them to prevent scurvy. When they ran out of limes, the ships doctor would start rationing out leaves of scurvy grass. (Too bad they didn’t have rickets grass.) John Gerard wrote, "The juice of Scurvie grass given to drinke in Beere, is a singular medicine against the disease called of Hippocrates, the Scurvie." Scurvy grass is related to horseradish, and the fresh leaves give a healthy and pleasant bite to any salad. And just think of the fascinating dinner table conversation you could strike up during the salad course! Pretty, dark-green, round leaves look like big dichondra.

Judean Sage / Candlestick Sage (Salvia judaica) is one of the rarest, and most significant sages in the world. Judean sage, as documented in Moldenke’s Plants of the Bible, is the sage after which the traditional Jewish symbol of the menorah was patterned. The plant’s inflorescence, when pressed flat, has almost the exact shape and form of the seven-branched candlestick of the Temple. With great effort, we were able to acquire only 12 seeds from Israel, and have painstakingly propagated this plant over the last several years to produce a limited quantity of plants available. To our knowledge, Lingle’s Herbs is the only nursery in America offering this plant. We have donated Judean Sage to all of the church Bible gardens in our area, much to our mutual joy.

Aptly named, Vick’s Plant (Plectranthus purpuratus) has round, thick, succulent leaves of which smell remarkably like the chest cold remedy. It reminds us of when our mothers would rub this ointment on our chests when we had colds. Hopefully, smelling this plant won’t trigger some Pavlovian response through scent-association which manifests itself as cold symptoms! Well, it hasn’t happened to us yet. The Mexicans know this plant as Menthilato, and use it internally for colds and congestion. This is a fun plant with which to amuse and amaze your friends.

Borrachera / Picurullana-quina (Alternanthera lahmannii) is a very rare, psychoactive plant from Latin America used to augment the intoxicating effects of any alcoholic drinks. The Colombian name Borrachera means ‘intoxicant’. It is added to cocaine tea by the natives of Columbia. Borrachera is said to have very unusual affects on the voice when ingested. Now, we can’t vouch for any of these claims because we’ve certainly never tried using this plant. (Although we admit to having purloined some helium balloons at birthday parties and doing Daffy Duck impressions.) The reason we grow this plant is because it’s beautiful. The leaves and stems are deep crimson, with pretty, white, starburst flowers. This plant wants to grow! Keep the pruning shears handy (and we don’t want to know what you do with the trimmings).

Diviner’s Sage (Salvia divinorum) is a plant to be revered. It was identified and named only in 1962, but has probably been used for thousands of years by the various cultures of Mexico. It is know as hojas de la Pastora ("leaves of the shepherdess"), and Salvia of the seers. Today, the plant is familiar to all Mazatec Indians, and many, if not most, families grow a supply. It is used by the Latin American curnaderos [healers], who give the leaves to their patients. The patient then goes into a ‘trance’, and communicates to the curandero, who listens attentively, what ails them. Diviner’s sage is a fascinating plant, and the only psychoactive sage we know of. It is of little use recreationally, and you’d probably get some really bad karma if you tried. As we said, this is a plant to be revered.

Lingle’s Herbs also offers a number of herbs not likely to be found in any kitchen herb garden, as they are very poisonous. One of the more prominent poisonous plants we offer is Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum). Often, when showing this plant during nursery tours, we have customers ask us, "What do you do with that!?" Well, we hope nothing. Nothing other than enjoy growing one of the most infamous plants in the history of mankind. Its beautiful, lacy foliage belies the fact that this plant in notoriously poisonous. A drink made from the plant was used by the Athenians to execute the philosopher Socrates in 399 B.C. At about the age of 70, he was accused of impiety and of corrupting the youth of the city by questioning tradition. Convicted, he was sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock. Socrates' death scene, described in Plato's Phaedo, is one of the most famous in literature. And we feel that the plant which played a starring role in this scene merits growing for purely intellectual reasons.

While we’re on this lugubrious subject, another ‘collector’ plant we grow at Lingle’s is Belladonna, or Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna). Belladonna is a very pretty plant with beautiful purple flowers, which turn into purple-black berries. It is an important medicinal plant as the source of atropine, a very important drug used today by ophthalmologists to dilate the eyes, and used to clear the nasal passages, treat asthma, and used by the U.S. Army as a poison gas antidote. But it does have a very lurid past. Belladonna has a macabre history of use by poisoners. Before modern medicine, doctors who suspected deadly nightshade poisoning would put a drop of the patient’s urine in the eye of a cat, and if the cat’s eye dilated, their suspicion was confirmed. The common name Belladonna comes from the Italian "beautiful lady". Women would rub the leaves of belladonna on their eyes to make their pupils dilate, hence giving them big, beautiful eyes to make themselves more beautiful. (Although they probably were not very graceful, stumbling about with blurred vision.) Belladonna is a fascinating plant with a rich history...for the unusual plant collector!

(Please note: We no longer offer Mandrake.)
The last plant in this poisonous group of collector plants is the extremely rare Mandrake, (Mandragora officinalis). We offer the true mandrake of English folklore and ancient superstition. Stranger than any fantasy is the history of this unusual plant. Old-world etchings of man as a plant, with roots for arms and legs and leaves for hair, came from this plant. Because mandrake resembled man, the plant was thought to be half demon. Mandrake was considered the most evil plant in the entire botanical world. It was believed that if you harvested the plant out of the ground, the demon in the plant would let out a terrible shriek and strike you dead. Hence it took great ceremony to harvest mandrake, requiring a new moon, iron sword, rope, dog and a beefsteak. First, it had to be harvested during a new moon, so the plant could not see the harvester. Then the harvester had to circle the plant three times with the iron sword. Next, one end of the rope was tied around the mandrake and the other end around the dog. The harvester then threw the beefsteak, which the dog ran after and pulled the plant from the ground. The mandrake would strike the scapegoat dog dead, and the harvester was safe to pick up the mandrake.

Mandrakes was used extensively in magic, and considered the most powerful plant in witchcraft. In careful dosage, it was used as an aphrodisiac. The Romans used it as a surgical anesthetic.

Organic Growing Guide: Fertilizing Basil

Now that Summer is in full swing, it’s time to reap the bountiful harvest of one of the most popular herbs–basil! As gardeners and cooks, it behooves us to lengthen the life of basil as best we can, and attain a long harvest of basil leaves.

Most basils are annuals, and die when they set mature seeds. Additionally, basil knows that it’s an annual. So it’s in basils genes to want to bloom, set seed, and thus ensure the regeneration of the species.

This presents a minor challenge to home gardeners. But there are two simple steps we can take to prolong the life of our basil plants.

The first step is proper harvesting. Basil should be frequently harvested from the growing tips, for it is these growing tips that will produce the blooms, and subsequently seeds. Frequent harvesting delays the plants ability to produce blooms, and creates bushier growth of good basil leaves. Once basil starts to produce blooms, it becomes fairly adamant about blooming. The best way to harvest basil is with two, or possibly three, severe prunings. Cut back the top half of the plant, leaving a few good leaves on the remaining plant, and make yourself a nice batch of pesto. But if you’re just using a few leaves a week for pasta sauce, keep an eye on your basil plants and pinch off any blooms that appear.

The second step to growing great basil is proper fertilizing. It’s important to acquaint yourself with the NPK analysis of the fertilizer you are using on your basil. The NPK analysis is the set of three numbers that are printed on all fertilizer containers. These numbers reflect the levels of nitrogen (chemical symbol N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K).

Nitrogen and potassium, the first and third numbers, are needed for good root and leaf development (and several other plant needs beyond the scope of this article). Phosphorus, the second number, is the nutrient that promotes blooming in plants.

When fertilizing basil, it is important to look for fertilizers high in nitrogen, and possibly potassium, but low in phosphorus. This will give you lush leaf growth without promoting too much blooming in basil plants.

Fortunately for the organic gardener, there are ample organic fertilizers available to accomplish proper basil fertilizing. It is best to avoid harsh chemical fertilizers. Most chemical fertilizers are formulated to promote bloom. One popular chemical fertilizer, which shall remain nameless but let’s say that the name implies some miraculous divination in plant growing, is formulated a 15-30-15 and will have you picking blooms off your basil plants like the devil. Other ‘professional’ chemical fertilizers are rated 20-20-20, and will also promote too much bloom.

Readily available is most garden centers, fish emulsion is usually rated about 5-1-1, providing nice, sustainable leaf growth in your basil plants while not promoting bloom. Also easy to find is blood meal, which is rich in nitrogen and low in phosphorus. (Do not confuse this with bone meal, which is high in phosphorus.) Also rich in nitrogen are soybean meal, and most guano and manure products. Just make certain that manure products have been composted before using them.

So with just some proper harvesting techniques and correct fertilizing, you can lengthen the life of your beautiful, and delicious, basil plants.

Featured Recipe-Pesto

From our Lingle’s Herbs cookbook, "Easy Recipes for using Fresh Herbs" available on our web site.

There’s no better way to enjoy the taste of fresh basil than a good pesto. And this is a wonderfully rewarding recipe for such little effort in preparation. You may prepare it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for up to one week, or freeze it for several months.

We like to serve pesto lightly tossed with fresh angel hair pasta, or spread it over crostini (grilled bread) and broil it just for a moment. Buon appetito!

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cups fresh basil
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
4 garlic cloves, chopped
¼ cup pine nuts
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until the mixture is a fine blend, but not puréed.

Plant Quiz Answers

1) The bay laurel tree (Laurus nobilis). Bay branches were used in ancient Greece and Rome as a "crowning herb". A wreath of these laurel leaves was placed on the head of heroes, poets, the winners of athletic contests, etc. Even today, the symbol for the U.S. National Intercollegiate Athletic Association shows a youth being crowned with a wreath of laurel leaves.

2) The bay laurel tree (Laurus nobilis) again! Wedding cakes used to be baked on a bed of bay leaves. Later, a single bay leaf was put in the cake when it was baked. This gave rise to the expression to "look for a bay leaf in a wedding cake," which ultimately evolved into our current expression about a needle in a haystack. Nowadays, all that is left of the traditional bay leaves are the silver cardboard ones on the icing of wedding cakes.

3) Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). (We bet you thought it was going to be bay laurel!) The name vermouth is thought to be derived from wermut, the German word for "wormwood," because blossoms of the wormwood plant have been the bitters traditionally used in vermouth. Wormwood was also used to make the liqueur absinthe, now illegal in most countries because wormwood contains thujone, which deteriorates the central nervous system. (Don’t worry martini drinkers, the thujone is removed from vermouth!)