Pesto Perpetuo- Basil all year long

19 years ago

I'm growing some sweet basil again this year. But my major crop is the new Pesto Perpetuo. I've read different information on it's height....anywhere from 18" to 4'. It doesn't produce flowers so you don't have to keep pinching it back and worrying about it flowering and the leaves changing flavor on you. And it can be overwintered indoors with sufficient light so it's possible with Pesto Perpetuo to have basil year round! Woo-Hoo! I highly recommend this for any herb gardener who likes basil.

Do a Yahoo, Google, Ask.com search on Pesto Perpetuo and read about it. It's been chosen as one the Herbs of the Year for 2007. The patent has been issued and is held by Sunny Border Nurseries, Inc. in Kensington, CT.

Anyway, it's a great plant. Lemony. Very good strong basil taste. Great on top of a tomato, in your sauces or for, of course, PESTO!

Here are a couple links:

http://www.herbsociety.org/promplant/pestoperpetuo.php

http://www.burpee.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=5015&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=Pesto+Perpetuo

Or go to:http://www.alwayssummerherbs.com/

and type in Pesto Perpetuo.

Featured Answer

User

16 years ago

Did anyone in the warmer areas have the plant live over. If so did the main stem become woody? I know it will not overwinter here but it was an interesting plant. I recently purchase a very upright green whose growth appears similar. Don't remember by tag said name was.

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Comments (13)

natal
19 years ago
That's a beautiful basil. I'll keep an eye out around here. Also looking for some of the African Blue. Have you tried that?
gborosteve
Original Author
19 years ago
Natal....no, I haven't tried the African Blue? How's the taste? Can you post a pic?

I'm going to so a search for African Blue right now. :-)
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yeti00
19 years ago
Picked some up from a local greenhouse (along with Pineapple mint & 'Hot & Spicy' oregano), and it smells wonderful... I nearly killed it putting it out too early, but it has perked back up indoors with lots of water and light. I can't wait to have fresh pesto!! Yum!
gborosteve
Original Author
19 years ago
I just pinched the tops off mine today, they're 12" high now. They've grown quite a bit. Now they'll really start to fill out.

Love pineapple mint. Had great success with it last year. Wonderful with lemonade. I'm also growing Hot & Spicy oregano, along with Italian and Greek. I love the stuff!
gametheory
16 years ago
Hello, all... This is my first post here.

I'm an exclusively indoor (urban apartment dweller) new gardener with an interest in herbs, so I really love the idea of an annual basil. Any suggestions on a good place to get a mail-order Pesto Perpetuo? Any advice on where to get good healthy mail-order herbs in general would be greatly appreciated, since I'm new to this all...
fatamorgana2121
16 years ago
Try one of these:

Richters
Horizon Herbs
Nichols Garden Nursery

FataMorgana
gametheory
16 years ago
Many thanks FataMorgana! Richter's catalog was really terrific. I've got 3 pesto perpetuos, 3 mojito mints (love mojitos!), and a stevia on order. Can't wait!
noss
16 years ago
Hello, I recently bought some pesto basil perpetuo from Burpee. The plants arrived the other day and they were in horrible shape. The leaves were ALL damaged, had brown spots on them and had many broken leaves. I removed the worst of the damage, but one of the plants now looks dead and the other two aren't far behind. The tops of the plants were bent over to make them fit into the shipping container, which was plastic and several leaves were mashed where the container was snapped closed on them. Is there anything I can do to save the two that are still alive? I am appalled at the horrible quality of the plants Burpee sent to me. I expected healthy, compact plants, not these leggy pitiful little plants.

The link posted above--I went and looked in the links and couldn't find the basil perpetuo there. What should I look for in their catalogs?

Thanks, Noss
fatamorgana2121
16 years ago
Contact Burpee. Be polite and explain your situation. I've had plants ordered from vendors (that I still order from) arrive looking like someone did the samsonite gorilla luggage test with them. I contacted the vendor and they made it right. Sometimes things happen and the good vendors will make it right.

Some places may be out of certain varieties of plants. In Zone 9 you have a long growing season. If you can find seeds and not plants of varieties you want, I'm sure you could still start some of your own.

FataMorgana
noss
16 years ago
Hi FataMorgana,

Thanks for the advice to contact Burpee.

I can't grow the perpetuo from seeds because it doesn't produce seeds, but I happened to call a local nursery last week and they actually had some of the perpetuo.

I have regular basil seeds and cilantro seed to grow myself. I would never order a live plant sent through a mail-order place again.

All three plants died, so I'm realy glad I called around to see if I could find some perpetuo locally.

I think it's too hot down here now, for them to have even tried shipping the plants and they weren't cheap. The local plants were very reasonable. Should have looked locally first. :I
fatamorgana2121
16 years ago
I wasn't sure if "perpetuo" was a plant-only variety or not. I grow mostly heirloom and open-pollinated varieties from seed so I'm not up on all the various new varieties.

Local nurseries are a great place to do business. In my experience they have good quality merchandise and knowledge staff. It's also a big plus in spending your dollars locally in order to help keep your local economy going and your local business people in business.

Good luck with your new plants!

FataMorgana
Mary Peters
10 years ago
I've had these for several years now, and they don't seem to be any more finicky than regular basil. I usually see it at local greenhouses. Like most basil, it starts easily from cuttings placed in water. I kept one of these potted as a houseplant for a year and a half, at which point it died suddenly (caught something from the cacti in the same window). My outdoor one last year did actually flower a little, but without setting seed. I guess conditions were perfect, lol.

Hope to find it locally again. It's so beautiful, I usually only manage to 'use' it when it needs pinching, or at end of season.