Organic. Period.

Basil is one of my favorite herbs for cooking with fresh, for drying, and as an ornamental plant in the garden. There are several varieties of basil, all of them fragrant and tasty. And I think they are equally pretty growing in the garden or in a pot.

This is a purple basil called Purple Ruffles. It has an aroma and flavor very similar to regular sweet basil, but just look how pretty it is! The leaves are shiny and dark, and if you let it slip past the snipping stage, it has lovely little pinkish flower clusters. It grows about 24 inches tall in my garden if I don’t snip it back.

I like to add a bit of purple ruffles basil to anything I would use sweet basil with. It’s even good added to a pesto.

The culture of all basil varieties is the same. I like to plant basil interspersed with tomatoes and peppers. I tried potting a plant this fall to bring indoors, but it didn’t appreciate my efforts. I’ll have to use what I have dried and plant again from seed next spring. Sometimes it goes to seed and volunteers in the garden, but I try to keep the seed from all of my basil varieties separated.

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