Indoor herbs

Flower & Garden Magazine, Feb-March, 1996 by Tovah Martin

I come from a family that harbors no qualms whatsoever against growing plants purely for their ornamental virtues. The front parlor is packed with exotic plants of all descriptions; those tropicals are pampered, pruned and repotted solely for their stunning good looks. No one expects the mandevilla to produce bounty for the table, nor the begonia to serve some useful purpose. And yet, there is still enough hard-nosed, utilitarian Yankee spirit left in the family blood to appreciate the fact that herbs pull their weight as houseplants.

The front parlor might be adorned with wall-to-wall exotics, but the pantry is another story entirely. Here, herbs monopolize every inch of sunny window space. And like most other country kitchens, our pantry is the brightest, most frequently trafficked spot in the house. The plants sequestered therein receive a lot of attention.

Not only do our container-grown herbs look absolutely ravishing, but they simultaneously freshen the atmosphere and season our suppers. Whenever family members walk by the windowsill, they tickle the thyme or brush against the sweet bay, releasing the herbs' essential oils. Whenever a pot is boiling on the stove, someone makes a beeline for the oregano to sever a few sprigs and sprinkle them into the soup.

Over the years, all sorts of herbs have shared our living quarters. We alter the assortment of herbs seasonally and according to the tastes of the chef of the moment. In summer, the pantry panes nurture a window box of annuals such as savory, chervil, parsley and basil. In winter, perennials such as horehound, rosemary and marjoram take their place. Many plants get plucked more rapidly than they can replenish new growth, thus requiring a replacement to be whisked over from the greenhouses. There's a constant flux of herbs at our elbows.

Although herbs usually come and go due to changes in our taste and the available light indoors, some herbs are rejected because we've discovered that they simply don't work as houseplants. For example, the standard sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a stinker to grow indoors - the stems become woody, the foliage drops and suddenly you're left with a plant that is useless for culinary purposes. The dwarf basils are an improvement, to be sure. In a very sunny, south-facing window, Ocimum basilicum `Minimum' will remain in fine fettle for a good portion of the winter. The trick lies in keeping this tiny-leafed herb constantly plucked to encourage branching and new growth. Folks fond of Italian cuisine will have no problem whatsoever performing the requisite plucking.

As its name might hint, summer savory (Satureja hortensis) is equally worthless during the darker months of the year; its cold-weather counterpart, winter savory (S. montana), is a splendid stand-in. A few other herbs don't pass the windowsill test, including tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus), which slips into dormancy as day length begins to shorten. Likewise, lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla) becomes embarrassingly denuded during the winter, making it useless in the kitchen right when you need indoor herbs most desperately. And lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) looks so disarmingly akin to an overgrown lawn weed that most folks prefer not to feature it on the windowsill, despite the fact that it's a common ingredient in Thai cooking. Beyond these few exceptions, there are scads of herbs that earn their keep while looking comely indoors throughout the year.

Your top priority for pantry herbs will probably lean heavily on the seasonings most frequently used in your favorite dishes. So it's little wonder that parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme are often found soaking up the sun close to the stove. Parsley is primarily a summertime affair, and the curly-leafed types are more ideally suited to indoor gardening than their Italian flat-leafed counterparts. Since curly-leafed parsley doesn't send off a superabundance of sprigs, you might contemplate planting in relays, sowing seeds every few weeks for a continual crop. Keep in mind that parsley seeds take forever to germinate and are equally slow to mature into something table-worthy.

As far as sage is concerned, try Salvia officinalis `Purpurascens.' It possesses a pungent flavor identical to its plain-leafed parent, but the plant is more compact and the foliage is a pleasing shade of deep purple. If that hue doesn't conform to your color scheme, try the new Salvia officinalis `Bergarten.' Twice as potent as the plain Salvia officinalis, its leaves are broader and held tightly against the pot.

Since medieval times, people have been struggling to grow rosemary indoors. But, alas, the plant can probably boast the longest history of frequent failures of any herb known to mankind. In fact, there's an old English adage concerning homegrown rosemary that declares, "If rosemary thriveth, the woman ruleth." I have no intention of disrupting the balance of power in your household, but a discrete lowering of the thermostat might prolong the life of the rosemary-in-residence. A sunny windowsill is essential, and a sparing hand with the watering can also works in your favor - it's best to let a rosemary dry out nearly to the point of wilting before again quenching its thirst.