i'd count how many people here a re actually interested in getting it, and supply them if I could with it, and skip the coop. specially if you can get seeds instead of plants.
make them reemburse you all your costs including paypal charges so you won't be out any money and including shipping supplies.
first step is to count how many folks on this thread,
chocolate basil - does anyone have a source?
I suspect this plant has to be grown from cuttings. Seeds don't necessarily produce all the characteristics of the parent plant, and "chocolate" is not ordinary in the basil world.
That would be a good thing to find out from that nursery,
Sorry about the typo of the phone number but glad I remembered seeing it.
Yellow: You are the hero of this thread!
Imagine. What if we really get it and propagate it so that no one ever has to say again: Have you ever grown chocolate basil?
There will only be: Of course everyone has grown chocolate basil!
I don't think it's necessarily true that chocolate basil is a hybrid that won't come true from seed. Several years ago, lime basil was very rare and hard to find... I got a couple plants from DeBaggio's, saved seed and discovered it came true... then I started sharing seed, and lime basil became easier find on DG, LOL... fast forward a couple of years, and now several more seed companies are carrying this variety, so it may still be "unusual" but it's no longer "hard to find."
At the least, if you have the opportunity, please pick up several plants so you can propagate some cuttings (basil is generally very easy to root in water) and save seeds. You may be able to start some seeds this summer just to see if it'll come true, and then you'll know if saving seeds will work or if you'll need to try to overwinter cuttings. Be sure to plant it away from other basils, to be sure it won't get cross-pollinated (or don't let your other basils bloom while this one is blooming).
Yes. I bought lime basil seed at the local Walmart in rural Alabama!
Rosemarie at Nichols Nursery has been looking for this plant parallel to us and for several years. If she finds it, it will be available from Nichol's Herb Nursery in Oregon.
It really is exciting to find something so rare and make it available to people who will appreciate it - especially if it is good as I remember it!
Imagine if it can be grown from seed! thanks, Critter.
I wrote Richters. Im taking this as the final word for me:
We have never seen a chocolate basil, and we very much doubt that it
exists.
We even have misgivings about chocolate mint which we carry. It was only
after many inquiries from customers that we finally began to grow it.
But to our noses it is just a form of peppermint with little or no hint
of chocolate. We suspect that similar creative thinking has given rise
to the rumours about chocolate basil.
With best wishes,
RICHTERS
Ive grown chocolate b asil before.
Well since Richters has more herb seed I have ever heard of, and I sure havent heard of them all by any shot. Im sure they would be more than interested to hear from you. If they have never heard of,seen, or been able to find it to date, Im sure they would be eleated to find something new.
If anyone has any of this CB, Dmail me, I will make it MORE than worth your while
This message was edited Jun 15, 2008 7:58 AM
gardenglory: we started this thread to locate chocolate basil. Hopefully, if it is found it will be available to all participants of the thread.
Sorry to offend. The reason I wrote to herb people was obviously to do just that.
What fun would it be to have anything if you didnt share?? If I was ever to find this elusive basil. I would be the first to pass it out to anyone that wanted it. For now, I will unwatch the thread as to not offend again.
? I missed something, but I hope nobody unwatches the thread... this discussion has been a collective search for an elusive variety, and who knows but that we just might be successful in finding it in the end? :-)
Marna, I'm probably in & out of town too much right now to try to coordinate shipping on a plant, but if you pick up some CBs from that nursery and get seed from them, I'd love to try growing it out. I can fire up my seed starting setup any time to try to determine if they come true from seed, and hopefully I could protect a second generation crop long enough to get more seeds from them this fall.
I know it exsists too and I know it comes true from seed, I know of someone who has it, and it drops seed and reproduces from seed just like most other basils, comes true from seed, and it's the same look as the post above where someone said they had it and explained it's looks, this person was given these plants from someone she knows, and their plants had dropped seed.
I don't haveany of it though, not sure if she can get more, or where she got it, so it's a dead end on this basil i'm sure. but still hoping we can find it.
new basils like new mints are hybridized all the time, no reason this one can't be true and new enough that richters doesn't know about it yet.
There are too many citings from too many places to assume that it does not exist, or that people are confusing chocolate basil for chocolate mint.
kathy ann: No possibility of asking that person for some seed?
If we do find it, it is an interesting story that it has almost disappeared.
I think it exists. I didn't realize it was a rare commodity when I had it. I didn't save any seed, and of course it does not over winter here (8b).
Gone with the wind!
Jill, I'll see what I can do after I hear back from the greenhouse manager.
Stay tuned everyone!!
Thanks! Do you want people to post or Dmail you if they're interested in plants once you find out if you can get them?
I would really like to get some seed if that is an option.
It is so hot here, basil either doesn't make it, or goes to seed and i have no way at present to isolate from my other basil. Im hoping to get some started for my fall garden.
Bad news. The greenhouse manager who orders all the herbs called and said that the do NOT have this plant, nor can she get it. She said that the person I talked to was mistaken and it was probably indeed Chocolate Mint.
Yellow, I don't know what to say since you were the one who saw it and I am 1 1/2 hours away from there.
Sorry kids!
*sniff*
:-(
Thanks so much for giving it "the ol' college try," Marna!
Yes. Thanks Marna. And we will all keep looking!
waaaahhhhhhh!
Thanks for trying, everyone.
The phantom chocolate basil!!!
No I cannot ask, she has a very small amount of plants from what I heard from last year and they dropped seed and gave my friend a few plants from those seed, she would never have enough to supply folks here with seed or plants, and she didn't get them around here, Only thing I can do is ask my friend to find out where she got them. someone can go to that source. if it will lead anywhere.
I did find out that it came from a nursery in Ozark Arkansas, I will try to find out which one and a phone number and such, and ask if they ship etc.... and stil lhave it. I have to wait til lmy friend asks her friend though.
so not sure how long it will be.
There are people here who have been looking for chocolate basil for years!
What I was thinking is that if we could get a small amount of seed for someone like Critter who has done this before. She would be able to propagate and see what results.
Couldn't you, Critter???
that's a good idea Gloria,
I'll let you all know abou t that nursery when I find out something
Well. We still have to ask her formally - if we find the seeds.
Critter has been very generous with her knowledge of herbs and the propagation of them in the past.
If there is anyone on DavesGarden who could turn a few herb seeds into a crop, I think Critter is the one who could do it!
It's really a mint plant and it's not cheap! Here is a link...
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/HCHMIS.html
No. We are looking for chocolate basil, not chocolate mint.
$3 for a perennial herb would not seem expensive to me.
Basil is an annual herb, usually grown from seed.
This message was edited Jun 15, 2008 3:53 PM
Kathy_ann, it would be great if you could get a picture of this plant and all the info you can from this person.
In all of our Googling over the months, I have not seen anyone report that they have this plant for a couple years now. Seems like it was strong back in 2004 and then had disappeared. It makes me wonder if there is indeed something "wrong" with it, like a poor performer.
Oh well, the saga continues. My chocolate mint will have to be alone in it's chocolateyness
well, I shouldn't have spoke up about this, cause the woman's mother is who bought the basil for her, and she's not sure the name of the nursery and she's not even sure it's chocolate basil. so it's a no go here. I'm not going to bother my friend about this any more. Sorry. I couldn't help out.
LOL... no problem, kathy, you know we get enthusiastic about any possible lead on this!
And yes, I'd be happy to do what I could with even a few seeds... you can get a lot of seeds from a couple of plants, and all it takes to start is a little pinch of seeds!
I've got some seedlings this year that I'm enthused about.. not chocolate basil, LOL, but a "hot & spicy" basil from seed a friend got from a friend who got them from an island off Sumatra... :-)
Needless to say, those are planted in an isolated corner for seed saving!
That sounds pretty exciting, Critter, even if its not chocolate basil.
Hot and spicy. That should be a winner!
I stumbled across this thread, and now I have a hankering for chocolate basil. Ahh chocolate + basil.....Would it be possible to cross pollinate a chocolate mint and basil to produce a chocolate mint basil plant? I don't know anything about hybridizing. Or, a cross pollination basil and chocolate. (I just don't happen to have a chocolate plant hehe)
Chocolate mint basil plant ? LOL There is a chocolate mint plant and there is a basil mint plant. but no chocolate basil mint .
I've got a couple unusual basils, and a couple coming too, got the greek column and variegated greek column coming this week from a friend, and got the black basil another new one, too tiny leaves not big enough to do anything with , got some african blue basil and another variegated unnamed basil also. I love basils. that spicy basil sounds good.
and mints, LOL i've never propagated any basil though,
basil cuttings root easily in water
Does anyone have a picture of this Chocolate Basil?
No picture. It looks like the regular large leaf basil, but it has brown streaks through the stem.