Mulberry Creek Herb Farm

Agastache, Apricot Sprite

Agastache aurantiaca
Try this for your next salad: mixed greens, ripe nectarines (or mandarin oranges), toasted walnuts, “Purple Ruffles Basil” and these subtle citrus/anise, bright orange and yellow flowers. Dress with a fruity viniagrette. Not only tasty, there’s the silver foliage and stocky 18” height to admire. Add extra color to the herb garden or even large mixed containers.

Agastache, Mexican Giant

Agastache mexicana


Guilt free candy straight from the garden. The ladies helping us could not resist popping pink petals of sweet, lemon-mint into their mouths. Imagine pink confetti over cantaloupe or the lemony leaves in your child’s tea - a great start for an afternoon tea party.

Agastache, Sunset or Rootbeer Hyssop

Agastache rupestris
We first saw this delicate, cool summer beauty in Seattle labeled ""Root Beer Plant. This caught our attention, as we have the same common name on a different plant. While not as strongly scented as our Root Beer Plant (Piper auritum), it's fragrance lingers all summer from apricot-pink flowers hovering above finely cut gray foliage. Has definite tea possibilities.

Agastache- Anise Hyssop

Agastache foeniculum


Lavender purple spikes, July through September, are cut fresh or dried for flower arrangements, while anise flavored leaves & flowers make a nice summer tea. Easily grown hardy perennial, but, reseeds if flowers are not removed quickly, which isn't always bad.

Angelica

Angelica archangelica


If you desire the largest, boldest herb that you can grow in the shade or a 6 foot tropical for a wet area, consider Angelica. Seeds add a sweet, delicate flavor to soups and stews. Stems are easily candied or add several slivers to your favorite rhubarb recipe. Creamy yellow flowers produce long lasting seed heads followed by the death to the mother plant shortly thereafter.

Angelica, Korean

Angelica gigas


Unassertive, small leaves scream for this bold, dramatic foliaged neighbor for any shade area. Baseball sized purple clusters on 3' stalks form in 2-3 years, which I suggest you remove during their glory to prevent this herb's demise or the birth of 100 more. Leaf stalks can be candied. This ""Dong Quai herb"" makes a cozy Chinese tea and is a premiere female medicinal.

Basil, African Blue

Ocimum X `African Blue'
Excuse it's leggy nature in pots. Give it room in the garden. It transforms into a mound of dark green leaves with purple veins & flower spikes. Culinary quality of Opal Basil, although stronger, with a hint of sweet camphor. Go easy! Best basil for indoors. Born at Companion Plants, Athens, Ohio.

Basil, Cuban

Ocumum basilicum 'Cuban'


It’s a perfect 1-1/2 foot globe of spicy basil flavor laced with a touch of mint. Mark admits to being disappointed initially with this variety, as it does not like a cool greenhouse, but man did it take off during the summer. We sheared it once in August and by October it still had not flowered. This was definitely the most frost tolerant of any basil we grew last year.

Bee Balm, Coral Reef

Monarda didyma 'Coral Reef'


Neon, coral pink flowers crescendo on top 2-1/2 to 3 feet tall stems, usually in July. Coming out of Morden Research Station, it's no surprise that it is also mildew resistant as are most new 'Monarda offerings.

Bee Balm, Pink Petite Delight

Monarda x 'Petite Delight' PP#10784


You could stop at the dwarf (12 to 15 inch height) and be satisfied but this new lavender/pink 'Monarda' boasts mildew resistance as well. Shiny, deep green foliage offsets lavender pink summer explosions. I like to site these in morning sun but they could tolerate full sun in most areas of the U.S.

Butterflyweed \ Bloodflower

Asclepias curassavica


Irrepressible orange and red star flowers in 4” clusters caught customers' attention all summer. This easy to grow, South American species, is also a favorite of Monarch Butterflies in the garden or any large mixed container. We combined this with Sweet Potato `Blackie’ - WOW!

Butterflyweed \ Pleurisy Root

Asclepias tuberosa
One of the most important plants you can buy to help save the Monarch Butterfly and give yourself a beautiful, bright orange, hardy perennial simultaneously. The dried powdered roots can be decocted to make a powerful expectorant and when combined with Angelica archangelica was used to treat Pleurisy. Once established, it will not transplant well.

Butterflyweed, 'Gay Butterflies'

Asclepias tuberosa 'Gay Butterflies'




Irrepressible orange and red star flowers in 4” clusters caught customers' attention all summer. This easy to grow, South American species, is also a favorite of Monarchs in the garden or any large mixed container. We combined this with Sweet Potato `Blackie’ - WOW!

Catnip

Nepeta cataria
Since this is the original ""6-Pack of beer"" for cats, protect new plantings until established. For humans, a medicinal tea is made from 2 tsp. dried catnip per 1 cup of water to aid in sleeping, colds and fevers. Flavor with honey or stevia. Remove flower heads before they mature to prevent self-sowing, unless you desire it for the entire neighborhood.

Chervil, Brussel Winter

Anthriscus cerefolium `Brussels Winter'




This is an improved, vigorous European variety that is larger and slower to bolt than ordinary ""Chervil."" Use fresh or frozen leaves in salads, soups, fish white sauce, and quiche, ideally fresh or cooked less than 5 minutes. Start in early spring with lettuce since it will bolt into flower with summer heat. Collect seed & plant in August for a fall crop.

Chives, Garlic

Allium tuberosa


Imagine: pristine, tall, white, 2"" globe, flower clusters in August. Also called ""Flat leaf Chives"" for their wider leaves; Add a mild garlic flavor, by simply sprinkling bits of flowers over chicken, Caesar salad, omelets and bread. I mean what doesn't need a dash of garlic?

Chives, Onion/Garden, Seed-free

Allium schoenoprasum
Carefree, seed-free, just not free. Looks and tastes exactly like Garden Chives"", but will not form any viable seed. Wake Up! That means it will not take over the yard, while you're on vacation, if you forget to remove seed heads. It also blooms about 6 weeks longer since it's not ""worried about the kids"".

Chives, Onion/Garden, Staro

Allium schoenoprasum 'Staro'


Chose this “Oniony Chive” because of its heavier, thicker leaves which makes harvest, fresh use and freezing easier. Freeze by snipping leaves into 2 or 3” lengths, placing it on a cookie sheet and “flash freezing” it for about 30 minutes or until stiff. Throw them in labelled “Zip-loc” bags. This insures being able to pull out the leaves individual.

Cilantro \ Coriander

Coriandrum sativum 'Santo'




This improved variety promises more fresh leaves and extra time to enjoy them in the spring. Grow with lettuce as it will fade with summer's heat. Small white flowers become large, brown, rounded seeds (Coriander). Use or reseed right away for a fall crop of Cilantro. One January we were still picking it during the mild winter! For salsas, salads, corn, chicken, beans, SW cooking and salmon.

Cinquefoil, Yellow Creeping

Potentilla neumanniana
Everyone has seen the overused ""Potentilla"" in a landscape but imagine a petite version. The bright yellow 3/8"" single rose flowers reveal it's membership in the rose family. Because it is a slow spreading groundcover, it's an icon in our winter windowsill gardens with a rosemary tree and a lemon thyme.

Coleonema - Confetti Bush

Coleanema pulchrum


Although this South African plant is often used as a diuretic (to promote urination), it does not give us the right to brutalize its botanical name as Colon enema. Skipping over Karen's sick sense of humor.... Single, white flowers, mature pink among the tiny fragrant needle leaves then sprinkle the root base like.... confetti!. It is hardy to at least 10 or 15 degree.

Columbine, Faerie

Aquilegia flabellata 'Cameo'
Like ""Little Lanterns Columbine"", the flowers are almost standard sized, however, the height is shrunk to about 3"" tall, one of the smallest known cultivars. This is a mixture of different flower colors, that rise no more than 3 or 4 inches and will slowly re-seed themselves around the garden. As columbines go, these are long lived and cute!

Columbine, Little Lanterns

Aquilegia canadensis 'Little Lanterns'


This delicate, literally 1/2 sized version of our native eastern Columbine blooms in its second year. Lucky for you, we've grown them for over 12 months, so these should flower for you this summer with reds and yellows about the size of native Columbine on 10"" stems.

Cotoneaster, Variegated Rock

Cotoneaster horizontalis 'Variegatus'




At a distance, you might think you are seeing a miniature, blooming apple tree, when, in fact, it is this cotoneaster. Why flower when it can have year round, white edged variegation lending to an elegant bonsai or that sweet, aforementioed apple tree in a railroad garden setting. Winter indoors in climates colder than zone 5.