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Old 05-05-2004, 09:02 PM
 
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Default Has anyone grown Lovage?

Mark Anderson wrote in message y.net...
I just bought a Lovage herb seedling from the garden store. I've been
looking for herbs that grow tall and big and the label said that this
will grow 40" in height. After reading about it on the web it seems what
I'm looking for but it also looks a lot like Cilantro. Last year when I
grew Cilantro, that plant petered out around July. I need something that
will have nice foliage into autumn. Does anyone have experience with
growing this herb?


Hi...I grow Loveage (Levisticum officinale)as a screen plant to
obscure my daffodils (Narcissus) when they are dying back. It reaches
60 to 70 inches by early summer. It is a good plant for giving height
and structure thereby creating an interesting backdrop which requires
very little maintenance beyond disposal of the dead growth in late
autumn each year.

As a herb it has a strong flavour and I am not fond of it but it can
be added to a vegetable stock and be used as a substitute for
additional salt in soup.

I believe it helps to reduce pest problems organically by giving shade
and promoting an environment suitable for ground beetles.

My garden is at 55 degrees north, gets full sun but a Scots climate
can be quite wet. The plant copes with the garden micro-climate
without any special measures. I regard it as a good, vigorous and
hardy screening plant