Interlude: Rosemary

 Note from the Author: New plant…sort of.

 

This Rosemary in the Test Gardens has white flowers.

The woody stems of Rosemary are interesting on their own. Note all the little bumps, those are potential roots waiting to happen.

This years sky-blue flowers. They only seem to emerge in the cold season.

That glorious foliage, is what it's all about.

 

Common Name: Rosemary

 

Other Common Names: None

 

Botanical Family: Lamiaeae (The Mint Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Salvia rosmarinus

 

Description & Habitat: Rosemary is native to Africa, Europe, Western Asia and the Mediterranean. 

In its native region it is found in dry rocky areas however in our area it can be found in most gardens 

and few gardeners have trouble growing it. You might encounter it in the field in yards where the house 

is long gone but parts of the old garden persist. Generally speaking Rosemary prefers sunny locations 

but will tolerate partial shade. It is Salt and Deer resistant and is largely immune to droughts once 

established. Rosemary prefers a sandy slightly acidic soil but gets benefit from regular irrigation and 

fertilizer. Rosemary is a reliable perennial in zones 8 through 10 and can with care attain a height of 

five feet with a spread of four feet. You can identify Rosemary by its square stems which are 

extra-visible in older woody growth, its needle-like leaves which are in opposite arrangement. 

Rosemary in Zone 8 is considered an perennial evergreen herb that is primarily used for culinary 

purposes however the essential oils can help mask your scent from biting insects and it can be used in

 medicinal preparations and the production or flavoring of liquor. The flowers of Rosemary are typically

 a bright sky blue, but cultivars with white or pink flowers do exist. In terms of pests this plant is 

bothered by Mint Moths, Spittlebugs Spider Mites and Whiteflies, but is also one of the few that is not 

bothered by Snails or Slugs. 

Botanical Latin Note: In 2017, Rosemary’s Botanical Latin name was changed from (Rosmarinus 

officinalis) to (Salvia Rosmarinus). This change is because genetic testing of Rosemary revealed that it 

was very closely related to the Sage Genus enough so that it could not be considered its own genus.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  There are no known toxicity issues with this plant.

 

 

When & What to Harvest: Ideally with Rosemary you want to harvest sprigs of Rosemary before it flowers or after the flowering has ended and the plant has resumed growing normally. The needle-like leaves are what you are primarily after for use in a fresh state in your cooking. If the woody stems the needles come from are fairly straight they can be used like a shish kebob skewer. Additionally dried twigs of rosemary with the leaves removed can be burned as somewhat-effective inset-repellant incense.

 

Related Plants: Prostrate Rosemary (Salvia Rosmarinus ‘Prostratus’).

 

Recipe: Rosemary Simple Syrup

 

1 Cup of water

1 Cup of Unbleached Sugar

¼ Cup of Rosemary leaves, packed

 

1. Gently wash the Rosemary using cold water and inspect for undesired debris like webbing or bugs.

2. Chop the Rosemary up as much as possible.

3. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

4. Stir as needed until the sugar dissolves.

5. Simmer for about a minute after and then remove from heat and cover the pan.

6. Allow the mix to steep for about thirty minutes.

7. Strain out the rosemary bits.

8. Pour the mixture into an appropriate sized jar for display, gifting or for your own use.

9. Once the syrup is cool it is ready to use in drinks or to boost recipes.

         

If making this syrup for display, make sure to use a properly sterilized Mason jar with a new lid. Inspect the jar for any signs of unwanted growth before use and throw out if the safety lid on the jar shows signs of bulging or out-gassing.

         

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/salvia-rosmarinus/

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://www.botanicalinterests.com/collections/rosemary-heirloom-seeds

 

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Spring Produce:

(This is the last week for the produce listed below, expect spring plants next week.)

Garlic, Softneck

Soup Kits, Parsnip

Soup Kits, Turnip

Carrots

Celery

Onions

Parsnips

Red Potatoes

Turnips

 

Plants Coming Soon:

Elephant Garlic

Soft neck Garlic

Yellow Onions

Formosa Lilies

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (2): The Common Onion, Elephant Garlic

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is February 14^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm. If you can’t make it to the City Market come on down to the North South Brewery Market which is at 304 Williams Street (Right off West Russel Street), between 1pm and 5pm every Saturday.

What's In A Name - A whole lot

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market.  This week I’d like to talk about a topic that was brought to my attention by a member of sustainable neighbors on Monday. I Have to preface this by saying the obvious, in horticulture the botanical Latin names of plants do occasionally change as new evidence sheds light on the origin of a species. Normally such changes occur without any real notice and for the most of us it’s no big deal. But the plant that just recently changed its scientific name is causing quite a stir. You would think this is a strange occurrence, gardeners up in arms, the Royal Horticultural Society being accused of meddling for no real benefit and the usual drama you’d expect when something has to change.

Rosemary – Salvia rosemarinus (formerly Rosemarinus officinalis)

 

Common Sage - Salvia officinalis

On the 22^nd of November the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in Britain, opted to change the scientific name of Rosemary from Rosemarinus officinalis to Salvia rosemarinus in light of studies done over the last five years that included mapping the plant’s genes and comparing them to the Sage family. This is one of the most high-profile plant name changes in a long time since Rosemary’s name has gone unchallenged since it got it in 1753. This change is pretty dramatic, as both the Sage genus (salvia) and the Rosemary genus (rosemarinus) are known already to be related as they are both in the Lamiaceae family which is commonly called the Mint Family. Believe it or not most of the herbs you use in cooking belong to just a handful of families, and in of that it’s not surprising that gene mapping will reveal closer family relations than we ever thought possible. I mean, Mint, Basil, Sage, Rosemary, Oregano, Agastache, Lavender, Catmint, Bee Balm, Marjoram, Cuban Oregano, Savory, Lemon Balm and, Thyme are all in the mint family and are all culinary herbs. All members of the mint family share just one common trait, square stems, this is how botanists and naturalists identified the plants before the internet, radio, or genetic testing. Another example is the Parsley or Carrot family which contains, Parsley, Carrots, Parsnips, Celerac, Celery, Dill, Fennel, Root Parsley, Anise, Chervil, Corriander/Cilantro, Cumin, Angelica and, Cicley. Ironically there wasn’t much a fuss when the name of this family changed from Umbelliferae to Apiaceae roughly around 2003 officially. I remember this change, because I first learned the scientific name of the parsley family and thought, ‘Hey, this word sounds like the word umbrella, and their flowers kind of look like an umbrella too…this makes sense!”  Then it changed and at the time I couldn’t figure out what the new name came from, well it turns out that Pliny the Elder named the plants Apium back in 50 CE. This was the first of a few name changes I would encounter in my Horticultural career. 

English Lavender ' Phenomenal' - Lavendula angustifolia 'Phenomenal'

You see, a few short years after that, the name of a common beloved garden annual changed. Somewhere in the mid-2000’s Coleus, that part-shade, foliage color-based plant with slightly minty smelling sap got added to the Plectranthus genus. What we once knew as Coleus species now became Solenostemon scutellarioides, talk about a mouthful, writing all that was painful. But it doesn’t end there, the former annual betting plants got another name change sometime recently and apparently are now Plectranthus scutellarioides, right, that is so much better! Yeah you see, the lovely betting plant we know as coleus, has had two name changes in twenty years and now it’s in a genus that a bunch of you have never heard of, right? Wrong, Plectranthus is still in the Mint family, and it’s two most famous existing members are Plectranthus amboinicus which is better known as Cuban Oregano. The most famous member of the Genus is Plectranthus verticillatus, or Swedish Ivy, the succulent houseplant.

 

Cuban Oregano – Plectranthus amboinicus ‘Cerveza and Lime’

Variegated Cuban Oregano – Plectranthus amboinicus ‘Variegatus’

Getting back to the point here, the Rosemary thing isn’t a big deal, it’s still in the mint family, and honestly, it’s growing habits are a lot like a sage except geared for tolerating heat. Its similarly slow growing, super aromatic and without it; certain dishes would be bland and pointless. Ok, I admit Salvia rosemarinus is interesting to say, but it rolls off the tongue with no losses in the suave and sophisticated departments. Roll some r’s maybe toss on an accent and bam, your sounding like the most cultured person in the room saying normal botanical Latin names. Now if only some bored horticulturist with too much grant money would genetically cross the two and make me some darn Sagemary, I’d buy THAT for a dollar! Now, the study that prompted the name change to rosemary is included below and as always I’d love to hear what you readers think.

Here’s the paper covering the name change:

http://sytsma.botany.wisc.edu/pdf/Drew%202017%20Taxon.pdf

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

All the Stuff:

Soup Kits: $6.00

Seasoning Packets: $2.00

Ginger, 4oz Packet: $2.00

Pepper Packets: $2.00

Garlic, Whole Bulb: $1.00

Vegetables:

Kale, Siberian: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Dinosaur: 3” - $3.00

Swiss Chard: 3” - $3.00

Houseplants & Annuals:

Kalanchoe: 4.5” - $4.00

Coming Soon:

TBA

These days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

                        This brings to a close the twenty-fourth LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 13^th of December. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

The something or others of March!

Welcome back to another wintery edition of Lost In the Farmer’s Market. Now as you know these episodes are posted a few days early of the normal Saturday posting date because of our involvement in the Fayetteville farmer’s Market. Today’s episode is the first one of March 2014. Due to some questions about plants we are selling at the Farmer’s Market, this episode is dedicated to providing details on the herbs currently available at ye olde booth.  So let’s get to the topic shall we? This year I decided to do something different with the plant selection, I phased in more perennial herbs and more food substitutes and switched out a lot of the annual plants. Now to be fair a number of plants are considered annuals but in truth are nothing of the sort but are grown that way.  But I think a discussion of what the term ‘technical annual’ means is a discussion for another day.

Angelica – Angelica archangelica (Biennial, Partial Shade)

Angelica is a member of the carrot or parsley family Apiaceae. As such it has a lot of the same features, a fleshy tap root, and finely dissected leaves and is the favored food of a number of butterfly species. For the average gardener it can serve as an ornamental as its foliage is quite nice as is its bloom. The seed is used as a seasoning, the foliage can be eaten, and the root dug up sliced and cooked as one might do with a celeriac. More so, this plant is a biennial which means when you see flowers you should do your best to save the seed.

Bloody Sorrel – Rumex Sanguineum (Perennial, Partial shade)

The sorrel family as a whole is edible but the wild cousins such as sheep, yellow and red sorrel often have side effects if eaten regularly and or in quantity. However if foraging between digestive upset and starvation the choice is quite clear. Now bloody sorrel or bloody dock as it sometimes is called is often sold as an ornamental perennial. Never mind that it is edible, and it’s general use is the same as spinach. The advantage is that green sorrel and bloody sorrel are both perennial unlike spinach which is a annual. There are some care differences such as the fact sorrels need regular water and some protection from southern sun.

Fennel – Foeniculum vulgare (Tough Perennial, full sun- morning shade)

Fennel is a common seasoning herb in true Italian seasoning blends and foods. Unlike dill it is a tough perennial and much like most members of the parsley/carrot family can be a host to swallowtail butterfly larva. The two types of Fennel, green and or black/bronze fennel taste identical and literally only look different. Both are tough xeriscaping and permaculture plants and both can be added to salads, and any other cooked dish. Both types are edible from root to seed and neither has a poisonous lookalike. All and all you can’t hope for a better behaved garden perennial with more uses.

Lamb’s Ear - Stachys byzantine (Perennial, Shade- Afternoon shade)

Lamb’s Ear is a classy sort of cottage garden plant that has more or less a nostalgic use in the garden and a minor medical use. In the medieval ages the plant was called woundwort because the fuzzy leaves were used as bandages, and this tradition reportedly persisted up through the American Revolution. As a whole the plant is somewhat mound forming, may need a little shade and benefits from a rich soil or regular fertilization.

Lovage – Levisticum officinale (Perennial, Partial Shade)

Lovage is another rarely seen Carrot/Parsley family member who does not get the kind of press it deserves. In general use the leaves and stems are used as a replacement for celery, where as it has reputed medical use in treating indigestion, kidney stones, colic and cystitis. The hollow stems on mature specimens can be used as ‘green’ drinking straws with vegetable or tomato juice. I might also add unlike celery Lovage is a true perennial, but it does need partial shade to do its best.

Lavender Cotton – Santolina virens (Tough Perennial, Full Sun)

Lavender Cotton is typically a name reserved for the gray form of Santolina, which is S. chamaecyparissus for note. We are carrying the green version because it comparatively grows faster but has all the same trademark durability and can also be used medically for poor digestion, worms and jaundice, while in crafts it’s aromatic properties aid in repelling insects. Overall the plant is most often used as an ornamental in knot gardens because of its low maintenance habits.

Rosemary – Rosemarinus officinalis (Tough Perennial, Full Sun)

Ah, rosemary, the herb everyone loves. Seriously rosemary is one of the most desired aromatic herbs, and probably the toughest herb for our region. As a garden plant rosemary is drought immune once established and can get incredibly huge over time despite being a very slow grower. As some of you may already know rosemary is used mainly in culinary dishes for scent and or seasoning and it’s most common use is in concert with tomatoes or potatoes.

Tansy – Tanacetum vulgare (Perennial, Part Shade to Full sun)

Tansy is one of the other great insect repelling herbs; its foliage is also used to make a green-gold dye base that can be used in a variety of crafts. As a garden plant it is a perennial that can get to a height of three feet, and bears finely dissected foliage and in summer is covered in small daisy flowers that attract pollinators.

I believe that covers at least the herb section of this discussion, now we will have more herbs later on so check back to see what has changed. As you may know I will be at the Fayetteville farmer’s market this weekend armed with a shipment of super-delicious plants to fill your garden with so you can get your organic plant fix. The market is a 365 day a year event that occurs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I’m there on Saturdays between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM and the market is located on 325 Franklin Street in the parking lot of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum. But enough of the plugging let’s get to the plant and material list for this weekend.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Black Magic Fertilizer

That’s right you’ve heard about it in trials all summer. This specially formulated liquid fertilizer was made and tested at the test gardens using natural ingredients and no chemicals. The result explosive growth, great harvests and of course no environmental side effects! We’re making batches of this stuff to order, at $6.00 per gallon of fertilizer. You can either order it at the market and pick it up the next week or have it delivered to your home in the Fayetteville area for a delivery charge of an additional $2.00.

House Plants

4x Holiday Cactus ($3.00)

2x Desert Privet ($3.00)

2x Rotary Privet ($3.00)

3x Dancing Bones Cactus ($3.00)

Garden Plants

1x Savoy Cabbage Plant 0.5 gal pot ($3.00)

8x Dinosaur Kale, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Herbs

2x Green Fennel, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Black Fennel, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Bloody Sorrel, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Lamb’s Ear, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Green Lavender-Cotton, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Tansy, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Angelica, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Rosemary, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Coming Soon:

Ozard Beauty Strawberry

Martha Washington Asparagus

Dark Red Norland Potato

So, with all that said we enter into March hoping the weather will improve but considering our options should it not. With any luck we’ve seen the last of bad weather and can well ‘Get on with it’ in regards to spring.