HERB - Patchouli??

[Sheron Buchele/Curtis Rowland]

At 02:15 PM 4/2/01 -0400, you wrote:
>
>Greetings!
>
>Are patchouli plants for sale in the U.S.?  If so, where?  And does
>anyone have experience with how difficult they are to take care of?

I have one.  I got it at Rabbit Shadow Farms here in Loveland.  They do
mail order.  You can usually find an add in the Herb Companion mag.  But
here is their #970/667-5531

I grow mine under some other plants (in it's own pot).  It freezes when it
gets below 55 degrees and sulks if there is too much light.  I finally have
what it likes and it is making nice big leaves and growing well.  It has a
square stem and looks kind like a big soft catnip, so I think it is in the
mint family.  I know that I have rooted it in water before.  Treat it like
a very very delicate mint that doesn't like a lot of light and needs a
fairly constant damp soil and you can't go wrong.  :-)  

The scent from the leaf is very mild when green.  It does get a bit more
intense as it dries.  But dry it and bag it and let it sit and it gets
pretty strong.  

>
>Also, someone asked me about the scent "absinthe", and my mind is a blank
>- well, okay, no big surprise there for those who know me, but does
>anyone have any leads?

Absinthe - never heard of it as a scent.  The compound from the plant is
regulated (I am pretty sure).  I recall the some artist dude on the Left
Bank smoked a lot of it (no sniggering, Art History Class was over 25 years
ago, correct me if you want, but don't snigger at your elders, you
whippersnappers).  

I am growing the plant - in the artimesia (cripes, how do you spell that? -
same family as Sweet Annie, mugwort, Southernwood, etc.  Huge family, (lots
of the "sage" is actually in this family not the salvias)  and grows like a
weed.  I put it in my moon bed of silver things and white flowers.  I ended
up with one giant bush and everything else just sort of cowering
underneath.  I am going to pull it out and put it in the "poorly behaved"
section of the herb garden.  It smelled kind of nice in the spicy way the
whole family does.  I have some of it dried in my herb room.  Didn't make a
good base for wreaths, tho.  

>
>30 books on herbs, and not one mentione to above
>questions....*sheesh*.....
>-Caro the stumpefied

Hope this helps.  Come on over and get cuttings any time!  I have a ton of
babies from the garden, just call first and come on over.  :-)

All the best,
Leonora the not so good a speller but a good herb grower  :-)

Fox Ryde Gardens - Herbal Innovations for Health and Cuisine
7743 West First Street
Loveland, CO 80537
970/669-3835
Visit our website: http://www.foxryde.com 

A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground.
Then, it is done, no matter how brave its warriors nor how strong their
weapons."
~ Cheyenne Proverb

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