Has anyone grown Lovage?
 

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?

Has anyone grown Lovage?
 

Mark Anderson expounded:

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?


Lovage is a perennial, cilantro is a fast growing annual. I've grown
lovage for years. It frequently gets higher than 40". It's great in
potato salad, tastes like celery.

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************

Has anyone grown Lovage?
 

Mark Anderson wrote:

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?

Nothing like Cilantro in habit or flaver.[thank goodness-- like weird
stuff, but have never acquired a taste for cilantro]

I love my Lovage plant. Mine is 10-12 years old & except for sharing
the occasional shovelful with an admirer I haven't done a thing to it.
If I remember right it came in a 4" pot-- for the past several years
it has been holding at about a 2foot in diameter clump.

It emerges before my Rhubarb does as a nice, round green mound. By
mid-summer it is 3-4' tall. In late summer it gets some seed heads
which I should probably snip, but look attractive, so I leave them.
The hollow stalks stand through most of my New York winters & seem to
disintigrate just in time so they don't ruin the appearance of the
spring plant.

I wish I used it more often in the kitchen, but as it is I mostly just
use it as a celery *leaf* substitute. It is much stronger flavored
than celery so it adds no texture to a meal.

A few snips in a potato salad. A bit in a seafood salad. A little
in soups.. . . a leaf or two to chew on as I walk into the garden. .
.. .

We've used the hollow stalks as straws to drink Virgin Mary's.

Jim

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

Has anyone grown Lovage?
 

Years ago when I had a passion for making homemade wine, I experimented with
lovage wine. I used a mix of seeds saved from the previous years crop and
green leaves and shoots. After aging, I thought it was excellent, somewhat
similar to dandelion wine, but with its own unique lovage taste. Others in
the household did not share my enthusiasm, and still remark upon it
occasionally...

At any rate, for me it is an easy, reliable plant, not flashy but very nice
to have around.

Cheers,
Sue

--

Zone 6, South-central PA

Has anyone grown Lovage?
 

On Wed, 05 May 2004 21:38:26 GMT, "SugarChile"
wrote:

Years ago when I had a passion for making homemade wine, I experimented with
lovage wine. I used a mix of seeds saved from the previous years crop and
green leaves and shoots. After aging, I thought it was excellent, somewhat
similar to dandelion wine, but with its own unique lovage taste. Others in
the household did not share my enthusiasm, and still remark upon it
occasionally...


I've got a recipe for a Lovage cordial. Though I love my Lovage &
enjoy an occasional cordial, I haven't been curious enough to ever
make this one. It just seems weird. [like garlic ice cream]

Jim

Has anyone grown Lovage?
 

I found that after cutting up Lovage roots that my hands had a curry like
smell for several days despite frequent washing.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

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?

Looks like everyone already said what I wanted to say about lovage.
The only other thing I have to add is that my brother mowed it off
last year by accident and it came back in a matter of days.