chocolate basil - does anyone have a source?

well while we're on the seeds links, lets not forget these:

http://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi
http://www.cooksgarden.com/departments.asp?dept=1052&lvl=1252&dpt=1

This thread will be the resource for finding basil!

gloria

Here's a table I found interesting.

http://earthnotes.tripod.com/basil_h.htm

Oh that's nice Kaperc!

I heard back from Burpees re: the quest to find choc. basil - she suggested I google it!! LOL I wrote her back and told her we had already done that but were hoping that they would consider offering it - she wrote back and said she'd pass along the suggestion - so much for that! HA!

I haven't had much positive experience with Burpee's customer service in the past few years. :-( Suggesting you google it is just too funny!

Like… duh!!!

I have ordered from them in the past and their quality is poor. I suggest some one email Spring Valley and see if maybe they would be willing to do a co-op with the choco. basil and maybe a few other items. :~)

Does anyone have a link on DG that tells about co-ops.

Here's the co-op forum sticky:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/groupbuy/all/

Not a good idea for me, since lots of nurseries won't ship to CA and it would be harder on plants, too. :-(
However, if I can help in any way, let me know.

I haven't hosted a co-op and probably can't commit to doing this one either (things are just unpredictable at present)... but I'll help out if I can... I've participated in a few and lurked in some others, so I've seen ones that ran smoothly and ones that were at best a bumpy ride. The biggest thing, especially if you haven't hosted before, and especially with a live plant co-op... start *small*. Set a limit on the number of plants and on the number of participants... and then stick to that limit! The co-ops that get into trouble are the ones where people keep adding on until they are just swamped... and then the plants suffer, and people are unhappy, and what started out as a happy adventure becomes very stressful for everybody.

Yeah, and everybody on this thread should get in on the coop no matter what LOL Just pickin, I"m dying for some chocolate basil.

My sis in law says, What the heck would you do with chocolate basil?

any clues? what would you do with it? I wonder just how chocolatey it is.

Kathy_Ann, there were lots of recipes online when I was searching. Most of them are probably chocolate+basil, but I imagine they can be adjusted, depending on what the basil TASTES like and how much people have to have that chocolate in there! ;-)

smell it everytime she goes to the garden… I have a spot for it next to my chocolate mint. Maybe I'll get cocoa bean mulch for it too.

Oh, you're just too clever! I knew there was some place is my yard that really, truly needed cocoa bean mulch... and it's my chocolate mint!! I love that idea. :-)

Cocoa bean mulch is yummy. It's also a little pricey, but I get some from time to time and use it on potted plants. Because did I mention that it's yummy? It really does have a nice fragrance... and it's also just a nice, lightweight, fairly fine textured mulch.

Years ago, when I lived in Chicago, you could be downtown and smell the chocolate factory roasting the beans. We used to get our mulch from them. I would love it when you just opened the bag. A beautiful mulch, I wish it lasted longer. But it will be so fun to have in my "chocolate" garden. Maybe I'll design little Chocolate bar type markers for the plants. LOL. Keep you posted on that… all ideas welcome!

We could start a whole Chocolate Garden:

Berlandiera lyrata (Chocolate Flower or Chocolate Scented Daisy): http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/berlyrata.htm

PELARGONIUM QUERCIFOLIUM 'CHOCOLATE': http://www.aromaduquebec.com/en/html/geraniumsf_5.html

Chocolate Mint Scented Geranium: http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/pelcvchocolatemint.htm

Heuchera 'Chocolate Ruffles' : http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?Code=D210

Aquilegia viridiflora 'Chocolate Soldier' : http://www.nichegardens.com/catalog/item.php?id=1063

Ajuga reptans 'Valfredda' CHOCOLATE CHIP: http://www.mobot.org/GARDENINGHELP/PLANTFINDER/Plant.asp?Code=Y710

Mentha x piperita f. citrata 'Chocolate': http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56869/

Cosmos atrosanguineus (Chocolate Cosmos): http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/29/

Calycanthus floridus: http://www.mobot.org/GARDENINGHELP/PLANTFINDER/Plant.asp?Code=B820

All mulched with Cocoa Bean Hulls, of course! If you have dogs, please read this: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp

Oh, I want to see those markers! I use the cocoa mulch in my pots, too. Shame the scent disappears so quickly, though. Sure keeps the weeds from setting in the pots, though!

I have seeds for a chocolate daisy I haven't planted yet. I'll have to try them!

OK. I took the plunge. I sent an email to Spring Valley asking it they would consider a co-op with us.

I don't know that I'm volunteering. Besides not ever having hosted one, I'm traveling a bit over the next few weeks. But if someone could help with counts and stuff, I'd give it a go! I don't mind collecting money, repacking, shipping etc.

I asked specifically about the chocolate basil but also asked what other goodies they might have. Keep your fingers crossed, I'll let you know what they say.

I've got a 'Chocolate Mint' geranium, but I think the "cocoa" part of its name is for the dark brown marking in the center of the leaf -- to me, the scent is just peppermint (but it's a favorite). I also have "Cocoa Mint Rose" and I can smell mint and a little rose in it, but honestly I don't know why it's also got "cocoa" in its name.

I winter sowed Berlandiera lyrata (chocolate daisy) seeds last year, and my plants (in pots) look pretty good... can't wait to see (and sniff!) the blooms. Be certain that I'll do my best to save seeds to share! My first try at growing seeds marked "chocolate daisy" turned out to be something else entirely, with similar looking flowers... however, it's another favorite (Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabra) since it blooms the first year from WS seed and is a butterfly magnet all summer long!

I sowed 'Chocolate Soldier' columbine seeds this year, too. I had a 'Chocolate Chip' ajuga, but I'm not sure it made it through the winter.

I guess I do like chocolate! Maybe I'll have to gather them together in a theme garden, as suggested. :-)

Thanks for making the inquiry, chat!

Thanks for the info on Mulch, I"ll have to pass then, as I have 2 dogs.

But al those other things look good!!!!

Thanks for the Co-op inquiry chatnoir… let us know!

After reading what's involved I thought it would be too much for me. Instead, if I find any locally, I'll just get a flat or so and do like a trade.

OH you guys are killing me with all this chocolate, if you really want chocolate. GO To this web site. EVERY plant there is got a chocolate color or name or sometihng. these folks know chcolate I hope they don't have the chocolate mint, or I'll be looking really bad right about now LOL better go check that too


www.chocolateflowerfarm.com

I just emailed them and asked, will let you know what they say. Now i'm going to thumb through the web site to make sure they don't have it listed there.

well, I don't see it listed, maybe they have heard of it.

kathy

OMG Kathy… drool


if it made it, I also have this iris.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/34792/


This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 2:51 PM

they emailed me back right away said they've been asked before LOL probably by one of us. They've not ever heard of chocolate basil, but if we find it to let them know, that it sounded yummy LOL

That iris is beautiful

Has anyone decided to do an Herb co-op?

Update on my getting the basil. I just went over my plant sale list and it now isn't on there. There is chocolate mint but the basil is no longer on there. :~(

gaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


how COULD they?

The seller might have sold out. I do keep wondering if I saw even saw it but I know for sure I did at one point!!

Did anyone email Spring Valley and hear from them?

We grew some last year, but wasn't very impressed with it so we didn't save any seeds. Now I regret that decision. I could've made a bundle of money selling them! LOL

Stephanie

LOL. You might have to run and hide now. They will never let you live that down!

I might need to make a run to the nursery where I purchased it last year and see if they have any more! Then, I'll grow it again and save every single little seed, and let me tell you...it leaves a BUNCH behind!!

Then they will love you for it.

This saga gets funnier every day!

stephanietx - why didn't you like it?

I emailed Spring Valley a week or so ago and haven't heard back from them. I'm on the road now but will follow up with them when I get home.