What do I do with all these Herbs, Holland Bulbs and Perennials? That's a common question we hear at HerbFest and we provide Herbanite Bob to help on herb answers as well as Kathryn Spiegel, a Wake County Master Gardener, to help with your perennial questions.
In addition to having help on site we offer free courses to our customers on many topics from preserving, harvesting, crafting, perfumery, medicinal, cosmetic classes so you can learn more about what to do with the bountiful herb harvest that is forthcoming.
Also included are free classes on landscape desing, xeriscaping, drought tolerant perennials and Meditteranean herbs for your landscape.
On several pages of our website are specific areas of interest that you may want to know more about so browse around and sign up for free information on the areas that the Herbanites are interested in.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Creating Microclimates For Non Native Herbs
One of the problems we have with herbs at HerbFest is due to our numerous varieties we have herbs that do not do as well in our zones 7 A/B climates.
As an example take the common name French Tarragon, Artemisia Dracunculus, var. sativa. If you are from the New England area this plant will flourish and become a very fragrant and beautiful bush loving the cooler climate and becoming a wonderful perennial for your garden. In our zones we are lucky to get it to grow a foot and hardly ever will it become anything more than an annual due to our hot weather and humidity.
Don't despair as you don't have to forgo the pleasures of this # 1 seasoning herb of the French. We instruct our HerbFest Herbanites to create a microclimate to prolong the life of the plant for harvesting enough leaves to last the year.
This is done by planting a plant such as Colocasia esculenta or as we know it..."Elephant Ears". The elephant ears loves our heat, humidity and sun and thrives while providing shade, sun protection, and lower tempeature under it's large leaves for the French Tarragon to grow. In zone 7 A/B elephant ears is a perennial, lives all year round - but goes dormant in winter, which stays consistent with our lifestyle theme of minimal work, most enjoyment of your yard/garden. In New England the same plant is an annual due to it not being able to withstand the cold.
All our bulbs, Elephant Ears is a bulb, are direct from Holland and will outperform most bulbs you will find anywhere. HerbFest 2008 will be our first offering of Dutch bulbs and one of the main reasons for doing so is to allow you to companion plant for microclimate creation for your cool weather herbs.
When you visit HerbFest we always welcome you telling us where you live and asking for suggestions for your climate. Here in North Carolina we run the gamut due to our beautiful beaches and mountains so basically any herb does well in one of our climates.
As an example take the common name French Tarragon, Artemisia Dracunculus, var. sativa. If you are from the New England area this plant will flourish and become a very fragrant and beautiful bush loving the cooler climate and becoming a wonderful perennial for your garden. In our zones we are lucky to get it to grow a foot and hardly ever will it become anything more than an annual due to our hot weather and humidity.
Don't despair as you don't have to forgo the pleasures of this # 1 seasoning herb of the French. We instruct our HerbFest Herbanites to create a microclimate to prolong the life of the plant for harvesting enough leaves to last the year.
This is done by planting a plant such as Colocasia esculenta or as we know it..."Elephant Ears". The elephant ears loves our heat, humidity and sun and thrives while providing shade, sun protection, and lower tempeature under it's large leaves for the French Tarragon to grow. In zone 7 A/B elephant ears is a perennial, lives all year round - but goes dormant in winter, which stays consistent with our lifestyle theme of minimal work, most enjoyment of your yard/garden. In New England the same plant is an annual due to it not being able to withstand the cold.
All our bulbs, Elephant Ears is a bulb, are direct from Holland and will outperform most bulbs you will find anywhere. HerbFest 2008 will be our first offering of Dutch bulbs and one of the main reasons for doing so is to allow you to companion plant for microclimate creation for your cool weather herbs.
When you visit HerbFest we always welcome you telling us where you live and asking for suggestions for your climate. Here in North Carolina we run the gamut due to our beautiful beaches and mountains so basically any herb does well in one of our climates.
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