Friday, September 4, 2009

my favorite plant

Before I left for the summer I planted several small tulsi plants, many were just babies. I returned home after three long months away, no idea of the state my garden would be in. As we were driving down the highway toward the house I told my husband, "All I care about is that my tulsi survived." Even though we have irrigation, I was worried maybe they hadn't done well with the brutal summer heat and no rain.

I was so, so happy when I got home. A few of the tulsis didn't make it but the majority were enormous! They must have tripled in size. I was thrilled. There was alot of pruning to do, but that didn't matter. I got to eat all of the flowers for days and save the dried seeds to grow more.

This entire summer I had found myself munching on fresh grown herbs, flowers and veggies wherever I went. Lavender mostly. From France to Palo Alto to my mother's garden. This seemed to be almost an obsession. I must miss the minerals and energy I had come to expect from my garden snacking -- nasturtiums, pineapple sage flowers, arugula, rosemay flowers, Italian basil, Thai basil, and of course, tulsi.

Call me Peter Rabbit.

I have never loved a plant more than I do tulsi. Shh, don't tell the others. There is something so special about this plant. After all, it is holy basil.

4 comments:

Nicola said...

thanks for visiting my blog! you mention tulsi is a basil?
we LOVE basil (a garden mainstay for us), but i had never heard the name tulsi before.

your blog is beautiful. (and i envy your travels!)

nicola
http://whichname.blogspot.com

Leciawp said...

I have never heard of tulsi, but we grow lots of basil and love it. Beautiful photos!

onegoldensun said...

Holy basil is one of my very favorite plants as well! I love the scent, and it is beautiful as well. Have you ever dried it and used for medicine? This is something I would like to explore this year. Lovely post!

Theresa said...

Tulsi is holy basil. It's different from other basils. It is very special. It has so many medicinal uses. I don't use it as medicine, but more for preventative purposes. I use it in cooking (spagetti sauce, soups etc.) and also our kids and I eat fresh leaves pretty much daily. You can also pinch off baby seed pods and eat them, they are delicious. This keeps the plants healthy, and keeps the energy in the leaves.