Howdy folks,
A neighbor of mine planted African Blue Basil in a mass planting
around an ornamental tree in a five foot diameter circle last year.
Aside from cooking with it, it was great to look at with dark leaves
and purple flowerheads. It had no problems with the heat and produced
far more than he could use for pesto. It also didn't get that black
stem rot that I always have a problem with on the standard sweet
basil.
I took some photos of his garden for my web site, so if anyone
wants to look they can go to my article index and find ( 'The garden
across the street' ) and the photo shows the tree ring planting, with
the flowers up above his sitting bench in bloom.
In our household I have to keep a steady supply of Basil for my
wife who loves the stuff which is difficult since I can't stand the
taste and am always picking leaves out of my salad. It's a trade off
though, because if I lived alone and had to cook for myself, I would
probably spend my life growing nothing but Kentucky Wonder and Blue
Lake Beans and living off my favorite recipe of Green beans,
Cambell's mushroom soup, and canned crunchy onion rings. So I guess
she keeps my gardening radar up in good order.

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com