Plants

Kangaroo Paw: The Australian Native Plant Kangaroo paw is one of the most instantly recognizable wildflowers in Australia, its tubular, velvet-coated blooms splitting open into curved claw-like fingers that genuinely resemble a small marsupial’s paw reaching up from the stem. Few flowers anywhere commit so completely to their common name, and fewer still manage to … Read more

Oregano is the common name for plants in the genus Origanum, a group of aromatic perennial herbs and subshrubs in the mint family native almost entirely to the Mediterranean region and western Asia. Depending on which taxonomic study is consulted, the genus contains somewhere between 38 and 45 recognized species, along with several subspecies and … Read more

Oregano is the common name for plants in the genus Origanum, a group of aromatic perennial herbs and subshrubs in the mint family native almost entirely to the Mediterranean region and western Asia. Depending on which taxonomic study is consulted, the genus contains somewhere between 38 and 45 recognized species, along with several subspecies, botanical … Read more

Dill, botanically Anethum graveolens, is an aromatic annual herb in the parsley family, believed to have originated somewhere across the Mediterranean, southern Russia, and central and southern Asia before becoming one of the most widely cultivated culinary herbs on Earth. It’s genuinely the sole species in its own genus, Anethum, a relatively unusual botanical status … Read more

Chives are genuinely one of the easiest herbs a home gardener can grow, tolerant of a wide range of conditions, largely pest-resistant, and productive for years from a single planting with only minimal ongoing care. Most of the real decisions involved in growing chives well come down to a handful of early choices, how you … Read more

Chives, scientifically Allium schoenoprasum, are a bulb-forming perennial herb in the onion genus, and they hold a genuinely unusual distinction within that genus: they’re the only species of Allium native to both the Old World and the New World, found growing wild across temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. That naturally wide distribution has made … Read more

Chives: The Smallest Member of the Onion Family Chives are the smallest cultivated species in the onion genus, yet they’ve earned a place in kitchen gardens across an enormous stretch of the globe, prized for a mild, grassy onion flavor and delicate purple blooms that double as genuine garden ornamentals. Few herbs manage to be … Read more

The Herb With a Dragon’s Name and a Split Identity Tarragon is a perennial herb best known for the sweet, anise-like flavor that anchors classic French cooking, yet the plant sold under that single common name actually covers a genuinely confusing split identity. The variety capable of real culinary distinction is sterile and can’t be … Read more

Tarragon, botanically Artemisia dracunculus, is a perennial herb in the sunflower family, native across a genuinely enormous range spanning Eurasia and North America, from dry meadows and roadsides in Europe all the way to Siberia and disturbed habitats throughout much of the United States and Canada. Despite that sprawling wild distribution, only one specific cultivated … Read more

Before you plant a single tarragon seed or cutting, there’s one fact worth knowing that trips up more gardeners than almost anything else about this herb: true French tarragon, the kind prized for its sweet, anise-like flavor in classic French cooking, cannot be grown from seed at all. If you buy a packet of tarragon … Read more