i am totally new to gardening so bear with me please. i have a small
basil plant (about 20 inches high) in a 8 inch pot outside. i am in san
diego. the recent freezing temperatures that killed 3/4 of the oranges
in the state appears to have killed my basil plant. all the leaves
turned dark brown/black and drooped. i have put it outside in the sun
and left it inside during the cold but it hasnt changed, in fact it
looks worse.

is my plant dead forever? or is it hibernating or something? do plants
survive being frozen and then come back to life at some point?

the stems are woody, if that means anything

said:

i am totally new to gardening so bear with me please. i have a small
basil plant (about 20 inches high) in a 8 inch pot outside. i am in san
diego. the recent freezing temperatures that killed 3/4 of the oranges
in the state appears to have killed my basil plant. all the leaves
turned dark brown/black and drooped. i have put it outside in the sun
and left it inside during the cold but it hasnt changed, in fact it
looks worse.

is my plant dead forever?

Basil is very frost sensitive, so it is almost surely dead. If there is any
green stem left, you could try cutting back to that and hope.

do plants
survive being frozen and then come back to life at some point?

Some plants do. Alas, basil is not one of them.


--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

In article .com,
" wrote:

i am totally new to gardening so bear with me please. i have a small
basil plant (about 20 inches high) in a 8 inch pot outside. i am in san
diego. the recent freezing temperatures that killed 3/4 of the oranges
in the state appears to have killed my basil plant. all the leaves
turned dark brown/black and drooped. i have put it outside in the sun
and left it inside during the cold but it hasnt changed, in fact it
looks worse.

is my plant dead forever? or is it hibernating or something? do plants
survive being frozen and then come back to life at some point?

the stems are woody, if that means anything

Basil is an annual...

That means it has to be replanted annually (yearly).

Sorry. :-)

Perrenials are plants that come back every year.

Basil is not one of them.

I wish it was. sigh
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

In article ,
Omelet wrote:

In article .com,
" wrote:

i am totally new to gardening so bear with me please. i have a small
basil plant (about 20 inches high) in a 8 inch pot outside. i am in san
diego. the recent freezing temperatures that killed 3/4 of the oranges
in the state appears to have killed my basil plant. all the leaves
turned dark brown/black and drooped. i have put it outside in the sun
and left it inside during the cold but it hasnt changed, in fact it
looks worse.

is my plant dead forever? or is it hibernating or something? do plants
survive being frozen and then come back to life at some point?

the stems are woody, if that means anything

Basil is an annual...

That means it has to be replanted annually (yearly).

Sorry. :-)

Perrenials are plants that come back every year.

Basil is not one of them.

I wish it was. sigh

You're right about basil being an annual, and yet I've lived in
California and Hawaii, and in both places been able to keep plants
growing for years. One Hawaii neighbor had a 14-year-old hedge of purple
basil, and kept it trimmed down to around 5 feet (by 20 feet wide). He
said it started out as a store-bought 4-inch container. Basil plants
would likely live indefinitely in a greenhouse environment, too. As they
age, the leaves are not nearly as tasty and the plants don't yield as
much; but the baby leaves are still delicious, and there's so much more
plant to pick from.

In article ,
Just Another wrote:

You're right about basil being an annual, and yet I've lived in
California and Hawaii, and in both places been able to keep plants
growing for years.

That's with proper pruning and the perfect environment. That does not
count. G

I have managed to keep Basil alive thru the winter for close to 2 years
in a greenhouse with vigilance. It's one of my favorite culinary herbs.

One Hawaii neighbor had a 14-year-old hedge of purple
basil, and kept it trimmed down to around 5 feet (by 20 feet wide).

What genus and species please? I'd be interested in that.

He
said it started out as a store-bought 4-inch container. Basil plants
would likely live indefinitely in a greenhouse environment, too. As they
age, the leaves are not nearly as tasty and the plants don't yield as
much; but the baby leaves are still delicious, and there's so much more
plant to pick from.

But it's still advisable to keep it from blooming?
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

In article ,
Omelet wrote:

In article ,
Just Another wrote:

You're right about basil being an annual, and yet I've lived in
California and Hawaii, and in both places been able to keep plants
growing for years.

That's with proper pruning and the perfect environment. That does not
count. G

I have managed to keep Basil alive thru the winter for close to 2 years
in a greenhouse with vigilance. It's one of my favorite culinary herbs.

One Hawaii neighbor had a 14-year-old hedge of purple
basil, and kept it trimmed down to around 5 feet (by 20 feet wide).

What genus and species please? I'd be interested in that.

Ah, I wish I could learn all them Latin names.

He
said it started out as a store-bought 4-inch container. Basil plants
would likely live indefinitely in a greenhouse environment, too. As they
age, the leaves are not nearly as tasty and the plants don't yield as
much; but the baby leaves are still delicious, and there's so much more
plant to pick from.

But it's still advisable to keep it from blooming?

I'm not sure; the reason I've kept basils for more than a season in the
past is because I *failed* to pull the naughty bits and stop them from
blooming, and hid my mistake in some obscure corner of the garden.

In article ,
Just Another wrote:

In article ,
Omelet wrote:

In article ,
Just Another wrote:

You're right about basil being an annual, and yet I've lived in
California and Hawaii, and in both places been able to keep plants
growing for years.

That's with proper pruning and the perfect environment. That does not
count. G

I have managed to keep Basil alive thru the winter for close to 2 years
in a greenhouse with vigilance. It's one of my favorite culinary herbs.

One Hawaii neighbor had a 14-year-old hedge of purple
basil, and kept it trimmed down to around 5 feet (by 20 feet wide).

What genus and species please? I'd be interested in that.

Ah, I wish I could learn all them Latin names.

Most nurseries list them on the tags. :-)
Guess I'll have to google for purple basil. I'm ok with that.
I just really love it as a cooking herb!


He
said it started out as a store-bought 4-inch container. Basil plants
would likely live indefinitely in a greenhouse environment, too. As they
age, the leaves are not nearly as tasty and the plants don't yield as
much; but the baby leaves are still delicious, and there's so much more
plant to pick from.

But it's still advisable to keep it from blooming?

I'm not sure; the reason I've kept basils for more than a season in the
past is because I *failed* to pull the naughty bits and stop them from
blooming, and hid my mistake in some obscure corner of the garden.

That's funny! ;-D

I've had it in the herb garden before and try to prune it when it bolts
for blooming.... and if I don't keep up with it, it dies sooner.

Oddly enough, I did not have much of a problem with that when I had it
in the greenhouse. I think that the light level was wrong for it to
bloom perhaps?
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

"I don't know Sybil, Try kicking him to see if you get any response"