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My Kart
Within this section you will be able to buy plants of deliciously aromatic herbs, many rare and drawn from the culinary arts traditions around the world. They will enable you to produce exotic dishes with that authentic flavour and fragrance. Fresh herbs are so much more delicious than dried ones. Taste a little of the fresh herb and match it to flavours like beef, lamb, pork, chicken, fish, cheese, salad greens, or more adventurous combinations like scones, cakes, muffins, even desserts and drinks. As well there are herb plants which provide delicious and helpful tisanes (teas to sip and sooth the body and soul). Also in this section there is a wide array of gourmet vegetable and herb seeds, all of them traditional or heirloom types, so that you can save them from year to year.
Even the smallest garden can yield enough herbs and saladings to add interest to food. An amazing array can be grown in pots within easy reach of the cook. Lots of hints for growing and using these wonderful herbs and vegetables are included here. Are you a newcomer to gardening? In 'The Armchair Gardener' section of this website, you will find articles on 'Creating A Productive And Beautiful Vegetable Garden' including space and water saving suggestions, as well as an article on 'Organic Gardening', another on 'Creating Compost The Easy Way', and also one on 'Mulches And Mulching'. It is much easier than you might imagine. And it is a positive action both for your own good health and that of your family as well as reducing green house gases and improving the health of your little patch on this earth. Fresh foods have become a commodity, often trucked in thousands of miles in refrigerated lorries or flown out of season from half way around the world. The more of your food that is raised locally and in your own garden, the more you will reduce your carbon footprint. There is a great benefit in knowing exactly what has been sprayed on your food, and how fresh it really is. The exercise put into digging and planting, mulching and composting is good for the figure, restful for the mind, and far more productive than visits to the gym. All that feeding and caring for your patch of earth is also ensuring that the quality of the food that you harvest is high, and that the soil is becoming ever richer. Above all it is really fun and satisfying, seeing young seedlings emerge and grow, strawberries flower and ripen, nibbling on tender young peas while you work, looking up at giant sunflower heads, crushing and sniffing herbs, and gathering a harvest for dinner that any gourmet chef would yearn for.
The Culinary Herb Garden
The plants that we send are large and fully hardened off, ready to yield quickly in your garden, not small plants in tubes. They cost a little more, but our customers return repeatedly, delighted at the size and vigour of Honeysuckle Cottage plants and their success with them. You will receive the same potful as you would if visiting the nursery. The plants will be cut back very lightly if necessary to reduce possible moisture loss while traveling in the mail, and the roots will be enclosed in moist peat. You will benefit from on our thirty years of experience in mail ordering plants around the world. Your credit card will not be charged until your order has been dispatched. Please Note: With deep regret we cannot mail order plants or seeds to Tasmania or Western Australia.
Agastache This is a group of plants too little known in Australia. They have an amazing range of leaf scents from sweet anise to mint and citrus, and the stunning flowers come in blues, purples, reds, orange, white, and pink. Butterflies, bees and tiny honeyeaters love them and haunt our gardens when they flower. Native bees are equally besotted. Listed here are varieties perfect for culinary use, and are also delicious as teas.
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Anise Hyssop or Licorice Mint
A. foeniculum
A substantial perennial bushy plant to 1.2m with dark green leaves delicously scented of sweet anise and stunning dense long candlelike inflorescences of violet-blue flowers from late summer to late autumn. use the leaves as a seasoning and for tea (sweeten with honey if desired). The flowers and leaves dry perfectly retaining their colour for years for wreaths, dried bouquets etc. It dies back each winter.
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$6.50
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Korean Mint or Indian Mint or Purple Giant Hyssop
or Blue Licorice or Huo xiang
This is an upright growing perennial with crinkled toothed leaves having a fragrance which is a mixture of spearmint and anise. The showy dense spikes of intense violet blue flowers are rich with nectar and very attractive honeyeaters, bees, and butterflies. The leaves make a delicious tea with a reputation for being good for a cold, and for settling an upset stomach. The flowers press and dry perfectly for craft and floral work, and the flowers also last well in a vase. This is a very hardy perennial, drought tolerant once established, and prefers full to half sun.
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$6.95
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Liquorice White
This is the snowy white flowered form of the Anise Hyssop, and is otherwise similar.
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$6.50
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Alpine Strawberry (The French Strawberry)
Fragaria vesca var. semperflorens
This is the superb, small, mouth-watering strawberry sold at fabulous expense in French restaurants in late spring and summer. It forms clumps rather than sending out long runners. It flowers and fruits repeatedly for at least six months of the year, and is happy to be grown in large pots. It is also an ideal edging for potager paths.
Rare.For almost certainly largest range of true alpine strawberry varieties as well as other rare strawberry varieties including some luscious berried new pink flowered varieties, go to our
Alpine Strawberries page
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"One toad always resided there, often two, and as you gathered a ripe strawberry you might catch sight of his black eye watching as you take the fruit he saved for you."
Richard Jefferies
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Angelica
Angelica archangelica
A handsome tall (1.5m) plant with ferny leaves for a moist position. All parts have the sweetest, cleanest ,most delightful fragrance. The stems are candied for delicious green sweets. A delightful tea is made from the fresh or dried leaves.In flower language means 'inspiration'.
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$8.50
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Purple Angelica
Angelica gigas
This dramatically beautiful species from China, Japan and Korea can reach around 1.8 m with lush divided foliage, deep burgundy stems and huge heads of darkest purple flowers. It will thrive in a lightly shaded spot with moist soil, and is frost hardy. The young leaves (only) are cooked as a vegetable in China.
The roots find use in Chinese medicine.
Temporarily unavailable
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$10.50
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Shiny Angelica
Please see separate Section Heirloom Flowers
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$8.50
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Cambodian Arrowroot
Canna edulis
This selected strain is grown in Cambodia and was recently imported, It appears to have plumper rhizomes and generally be more vigorous than the Australian selection.
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$11.50
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Basil, Annual Ocimum
We offer a huge range of fragrant basils from around the world for sale in the nursery only (Mail order not available) from September to March each year or until sold out. Seeds are available, see section below. Many are very rare indeed, all having the fragrance of sweet basil, but with added scents such as lime, lemon, licorice, cinnamon, spice, and incense. Among the varieties are'Mrs Burns' Lemon', 'Lime', 'Cinnamon', ' Sacred Basil' or 'Tulsi' or 'Holy Basil', 'Spice', 'Pistou', 'Magical Michael', 'Spicy Globe' various Thai basils such as 'Queenette', 'Pistou', 'Oriental Breeze', 'Blue Spice', 'Indian', 'Yiotis', 'Medinette' 'Marseille', 'Ararat', and 'Osmin'.
Basil, Perennial Culinary
These plants are available for mail order: Can you believe that there are some basils that form large richly fragrant bushes, excellent for culianry use, that will live on for years and years. In cold areas, grow them in large pots and bring under protection in winter.
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African Basil
This basil is probably not to everyone's taste but it brought tears (in the nicest possible way) to the eyes of a beautiful African lady visiting the nursery as she recalled her mother's use of it to flavour ghee (rendered butter. It makes an exceptionally pretty erect shrub with a pleasant fragrance.
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$8.50
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All Year Basil
The leaves of this perennial seedless basil are intensely and deliciously scented of sweet basil. It forms a big, rounded, soft-leaved bush to 80 cm with a spectacular display in summer of tall spikes of white flowers which are very attractive to bees. Imagine fresh basil all year round! For those in frost prone areas, grow it in a large pot that can be given frost protection.
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$8.50
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Blue African Basil
A sensational perennial basil, as beautiful as it is delicious, forming a rounded shrub to 80-90cm bearing prolific tall spikes of white flowers with purple bracts. The foliage is deeply tinted purple too and is stunningly fragrant of sweet basil. The beautiful colour comes from its 'Dark Opal' parent.
Very rare.
Temporarily unavailable
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$9.50
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Camphor Basil
This is not suitable for culinary purposes.
This species has foliage scented of sweet mint and camphor. The leaves are an excellent ingredient in moth repellent bags to tuck between winter woollens, and it is an excellent companion plant . The long ornamental dense spikes of white flowers are very attractive to bees and butterflies.
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$8.50
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East Indian or Tree Basil
O. gratissimum
This may not be a tree but it can reach 1.5m with finely felted lime to mid green large leaves intensely scented of clove basil. The flowers are borne in slender pale yellow terminal inflorescences.
Very rare.
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$8.50
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See also the seed section below for seeds of a number of basil varieties.
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Bay, Sweet
Laurus nobilis
Aromatic leaves used fresh or dried in bouquet garni for soups, casseroles, fish, meatloaf, stuffing etc or crown yourself with a laurel wreath! A small tree or a neat clipped tub specimen.
"Neither witch nor devil, thunder nor lightning, will hurt a man in the place where a Bay Tree is."
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$12.95
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Golden Sweet Bay
This is the much rarer golden foliaged form of the Sweet Bay. It is used in exactly the same ways as Sweet Bay, and makes an outstanding ornamental shrub or clipped into a simple topiary, a beautiful centrepiece for a herb garden.
Temporarily unavailable
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$14.50
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Bee Balms or Bergamot
Monarda species and Hybrids.
When the Bostonians rebelled against the English and indulged in the famous Boston Tea Party, there must have been a whole town suffering withdrawal symptoms without a single precious cup of 'cha'. One of the substitutes they used was Oswego Tea so named because it was recommended to them by the Oswego Indians, and it was made from the leaves of the bee balm M. didyma. Add a few leaves to a pot of tea or make a tea of the leaves alone. The flowers are honey fragrant, and can be used to decorate cakes. The individual edible flowers which are honey scented with a hint of mint and tender young leaves can be used in salad. The flowers are immensely attractive to butterflies and honeyeaters in the garden. Varieties of M. didyma like a moist good garden soil and several hours of sunshine daily, but will tolerate afternoon shade.
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Beauty of Cobham
Monarda didyma
A stunning variety of bergamot with lemon scented leaves that make a delicious tea (whether fresh or dried) and gorgeous flowers in rich pink with very striking purple bracts. 90 cm.
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$8.50
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Croftway Pink
Monarda didyma
An old variety and one of the loveliest with fragrant foliage and soft clear rose pink tubular blossoms with green bracts suffused pink in whorls. very attractive to both bees and butterflies. The leaves (fresh or dried) make a delicious tea.
Temporarily unavailable
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$8.50
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Lemon Bergamot
Monarda citriodora
This is one of the prettiest of the bee balms with gently showy tall spikes of many dense separate whorls of lavender-pink flowers with tiny purple freckles. This is an American herb native to the South-West USA and also goes by the names Prairie Bergamot, Lemon Horse Mint and Lemon Mint among others. The foliage is strongly lemon scented and was used as a tea and as a flavouring herb for game by the Hopi Indians. The fresh leaves are now widely used, to make an excellent tea, to flavour fish and chicken dishes, and as an addition to salads. They are also used in the preparation of long cold drinks. The flowers are edible and are used in salads and scattered over desserts at the last moment.
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$8.50
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Wild Bergamot
M. fistulosa
This beautiful species is both drought and cold (to –25 degrees C) resistant and is a perennial which will adapt to almost any situation. Yet it is a queen in the garden with a sumptuous display of clear lavender large flower heads on tall willowy stems, soon forming a good clump. The leaves have a delightful warm oregano scent and are used, fresh or dried, to flavour meats and wild game (and in recent times ricotta cheese). They contain thymol and have also traditionally been used in a tea with antiseptic properties during the season of coughs, colds and sore throats.
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$8.50
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Mushroom Plant
Rungia klossii
This extraordinary and rare culinary plant is a perennial which sends many stems from the base and grows to around 60 cm high. Its glossy leaves taste exactly of fresh mushrooms and are used in salads, sandwiches, and in stir fry dishes. It is also rich in vitamins A and C and a source of iron and calcium. It likes a well composted soil and light protection from hot sun, and will grow well in a pot. Rare.
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$9.50
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Shades of Red
M. didyma
This gorgeous form of Bee Balm forms a clump of flowering stems to 75 cm high, each stem topped with large showy whorls of fragrant, nectar filled, richest crimson red, tubular flowers which are very attractive to butterflies and honeyeaters, The dark green foliage is scented of citrus mixed with basil and has traditionally been used be in herbal teas. 'Shades of Red' flowers in the latter half of summer and into autumn.
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$8.50
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See also 'Oregano de la Sierra' below.
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Borage
Borago officinalis
With one of the world's truest blue flowers, this is known as the Herb of Gladness and blue flowers are floated on summery punches, Pimms No.1 Cup, and added to salads. The young cucumber flavoured leaves can be finely chopped and added to spring salads or dipped into a very light batter and deep fried to make delightful 'borage fish' tempura to nibble with drinks. Borage was considered to cheer the heart, but was also said to confer courage. Knights departing for the Holy Land were offered a stirrup cup flavoured with borage. Ladies embroidered blue borage flowers onto a scarf to be warn by their chosen knight before he entered a tournaments or departed to do battle.
(Also available as seed, see seed section.)
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$6.00
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White Flowered
This is the very much rarer white flowered form, adding a cool touch to the summer herb garden with its deligtful abundant star-shaped flowers. It is identical in all other respects.
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$7.00
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Burnet, Salad
Sanguisorba minor
An evergreen ferny mounded rosette of cucumber flavoured leaves. Beautiful for a hanging basket. Use in green salads, as a dainty garnish of fish dishes, and above all in Pimms No.1 cup with lots of ice and orange slices on hot summer days. In the language of flowers, burnet means 'merry heart.'
Temporarily unavailable
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$6.50
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Calamintha nepeta 'Blue Cloud'
What a gorgeous perennial to create that desirable misty haze of colour in the garden. All the rage in Europe and America, this forms a bushy plant with spearmint-scented deep green oval foliage and it flowers continuously from early summer to late autumn forming a haze of tiny blue flowers each with purple bracts, that are haunted by busy bees. It is fully hardy and perfect for a sunny position, growing to around 25 û 30 cm.
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$8.50
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Cape Gooseberry
Physalis peruviana
A perennial shrub producing sweetly luscious golden gooseberries in abundance each enclosed in a delicate papery case just like an old Chinese lantern. When the lanterns have dried out and become lacy, the fruit is ready to eat - fresh with cream, in delicious jams and pies.
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$6.95
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Cardomom Leaf or Dwarf Cardomom or False Cardomom
Alpinia nutans
This relative of ginger is not the plant which produces the spice caromom. The sheathing leaves, typical of the ginger family, do however have a very distinctive warm and spicy cardomom fragrance and can be used similarly to the leaves of true cinnamon to wrap fish or chicken meat before steaming or roasting to infuse cardomom fragrance. It rarely flowers but when it does they are worth the wait, borne on graceful 30 cm stalks in slightly drooping racemes of porcelain white flowers. each with an orange interior and red throat. The plant is rhizomatous, forming a handsome clump, and despite its tropical Asian origin it remains evergreen in all but really cold districts in Australia. It prefers a lightly shaded situation or full morning sun and a compost enriched, moist soil (although we have seen very healthy clumps growing in heavy clay soils). Cut off old spent leaves to the base in spring to keep its lush appearance.
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$9.50
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Celery Herb or Smallage
Apium graveolens
A marvellous source of concentrated celery flavoured leaves and stalks for salads, soups, etc. Very vigorous grower. Pick a stalk as required.
Temporarily unavailable
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$6.00
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Chamomile Tips:
Chamomile is sometimes called 'the plant physician'. If a plant looks sickly, try growing chamomile beside it. Gardeners in the past used this technique, often saving much loved plants, particularly roses. And few wiser instructions for a healthy and happy life were given by the old herbalists than this:
"To comfort the brain, smell camomile, eat sage....wash measurably, sleep reasonably, delight to hear melody and singing."
Chile Peppers Capsicum spp. The Hellfire Garden
Chile peppers come in an amazing variety of colours, shapes, and sizes, and can also have a wide range of flavours from prune to citrus, fruity to smoky, coffee to almond,and raisin to tobacco. The heat is located mainly in the seeds and membranes, so if you want less heat, always remove the seeds and internal septae. Capsaicin, the compound in chile peppers responsible for the heat is not water soluble, so drinking lots of water or icy cold beer will not help when the mouth is burning from an exceptionally hot chile dish. Instead, as the compound is fat soluble, try drinking milk, buttermilk, or a little yoghurt. A side dish of yoghurt mixed with chopped deseeded cucumber is a traditional side dish with chile flavoured dishes around the world. In India, lassi which is a delicious yoghurt based drink is often served with pepper-hot foods.
A wide range is available at the nursery from mid-spring to November, together with packets of a number of varieties of chile pepper seeds. (Not available for Mail Order).
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Cherry Guava or Strawberry Guava
Psidium littorale var. longpipes
This frost hardy fruit tree is particularly ornamental and at 2.5m high and around 1.5 m wide can be accommodated in a small garden or grown in a large pot. It is evergreen with small glossy foliage and very pretty white flowers from spring to summer. The small clusters of fruit that follow are round and turn to burgundy red when they ripen in late summer and autumn. In warmer districts with summer rain they frequently set fruit twice a year. In either case they bear heavily. Provide a warm sunny position and a freely draining soil enriched with compost for best results. The fruits which are high in vitamin C are eaten fresh and can be juiced or made into jams and jellies.
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$12.50
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Chives, Onion Windowsill Chives 'Grolau'
Allium schoenoprasum
Forms a clump to around 20 cm high of delicately onion flavoured, hollow, cylindrical leaves which can be finely chopped to use in sandwiches, dips, salads etc. , and also used as a garnish. It makes a delightful neat garden edging with masses of pink flowers in summer, and the flowers which share the same delicate onion flavour are a charming garnish in their own right.
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$6.95
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Mauve Garlic Chives or Society Garlic
Tulbaghia violacea
A perennial forming a tall clump of flat, strappy, deep green leaves, mouth wateringly scented and flavoured of garlic, and producing many tall stemmed umbels of beautiful mauve flowers in sunner. Use as for chives.
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$6.95
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Sweet Garlic or Chinese Chives or Garlic Chives
A. tuberosum
Our favourite! Lots of tall flat, succulent leaves with a delicious garlic and chives flavour. A must for baked potatoes, vichysoise, salads, dips, etc.
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$6.50
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Clary Sage or Muscatel Sage or Purple-Topped Clary
Salvia sclarea
This species has broad hairy leaves that smell of muscadel and grapefruit. The leaves have been used to flavour wines, clary oil extracted as a fixer of perfume aromatics. The leaves dipped in light batter were popular with meat in Elizabethan times and were used to add a pineapple-like flavour to fruit jellies. Medicinally used to clear eyesight.
Temporarily unavailable
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$6.50
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Comfrey or Knitbone
Symphytum officinalis
The famed medicinal herb used to heal cuts, wounds, bruises and ulcers. It contains allantoin, the active ingredient, encouraging rapid healing of wounds and knitting of bones. Plant in compost in a moist sunny place and it will form a great clump that will last 20 years. The flowers "bee round and hollow like little bells, most commonly white, and sometimes reddish." It was previously used for culinary purposes and as a tea, but its use is now reserved for external application. large plants.
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$8.50
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Creeping Comfrey
S. grandiflorum
Please see Section Heirloom Flowers.
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$8.50
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Coriander or Chinese Parsley
Coriandrum sativum
This is an annual herb and we supply it as seed only. Packet price quoted.
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$4.00
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Lemon Coriander
Coriandrum sativum
We mail order this rare herb in spring and summer only. The leaves have the most delicious fragrance of fresh lemon and coriander. Let plants self seed at the end of the season.
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$7.50
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Mexican Coriander
Eryngium foetidum
This is also known as colantro and ngo gai. It is native to Central America, the young leaves having an intense coriander fragrance. They are used sliced finely in cooking wherever coriander flavour is required, Very rare.
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$7.50
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Vietnamese Coriander or Vietnamese Mint or Rau Ram
Polygonum odoratum
Used in Vietnamese cooking, having a hot coriander-and-mint intense flavour. Unlike coriander, this is a perennial readily spreading to form a neat groundcover clump in a moist position. In cold areas a pot can be brought onto a windowsill for the winter.
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$7.50
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Costmary or Alecost or Bible Leaf
Tanacetum balsamita
Nothing could be more old-fashioned or delightful. In the medieval period this plant was associated with the Virgin Mary and its French name to this day remains Herbe-Sainte-Marie. This perennial grows to around 90 cm with silvery sage green leaves which have a gentle sweet mint-and-camphor fragrance. In summer it bears heads of pure white daisy flowers. Its name of 'Alecost'' survives fom its medieval use in brewing ale. The leaves also found use as strewing herbs, in sweet bags mixed with lavender and used to moth proof stored woollens and linens, and in sweet toiletry waters. Particularly in the 19th century when many vicars were under the impression that the number of souls they saved was in direct proportion to the thunderous level of their oratory as well as the duration of their sermons, costmary leaves were tucked into bibles and discreetly sniffed to restore the senses of the dutiful congregation, hence the name 'Bible Leaf'. For a sunny, well drained position. It prefers a compost-enriched soil.
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$8.50
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Cress, Water
Nasturtium officinalis
Will grow happily in a large pot of compost kept in a saucer and regularly watered. Delicious with creamed cheese in brown bread sandwiches.
Temporarily unavailable
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$7.50
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Lebanese
Apium nodiflorum
An excellent low growing, spreading, fresh green, ferny leafed perennial with a watercress-and-celery flavour. The creamy white flowers are in short small umbels. This is an easier plant to grow as it requires normal watering and a lightly shaded position. It may well become indispensible to any cook who owns it, providing a perk-up to sandwiches and salads, and an attractive garnish.
It can also be added as a herb to soups (it is an ingredient in the famous Tuscan soup Minestelia). Grow it in a compost-enriched moist soil in light shade where it makes an excellent attractive edible groundcover. If space is a problem, Lebanese cress will grow happily in a wide-mouthed tub. Confusion seems to surround this plant on gardener's websites. It is frequently incorrectly named Aethionema cordifolium which is a pretty, mounding ornamental plant from the Brassica family, known as Persian Rockcress or, confusingly, Lebanese Stonecress or Lebanon Stonecress, with pink to lavender inflorescences resembling that of related garden stocks. When collecting wild foods from around water in the western Mediterranean region including France, Spain and Italy, one is warned that there are other species that can be confused with Lebanese Cress if you are inexperienced or not equipped with a good botanical reference, and some of these other species are not benign. This warning has incorrectly become associated with Lebanese Cress itself in some gardeners' minds. However the plant sold in Australia is correctly identified (we have sold it for almost 30 years at Honeysuckle Cottage and of course Judyth and Keith are highly qualiied botanists with years of academia behind them) and it is one of the most popular of wild gathered food plants in Italy and France, particularly recommended for salads. Some gardeners have reported that lebanese Cress tastes of carrot. It is likely that they are simply growing a different strain of the species. Carrot flavour occurs in the genus, for instance in Apium leptophyllum (which has finely dissected leaves and is a widespread subtropical and tropical annual weed including in Australia.
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$7.50
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Curry Plant
Helichrysum stoechas
A fine foliaged silvery grey shrub a little like rosemary with a deliciously strong, mouth-watering curry scent when crushed. Clusters of golden flowers. The delicious fragrance is lost if used during cooking, so chop leaves finely and sprinkle over at the last moment. It needs a well drained, sunny position, and makes an excellent plant for a larger pot. Rare.
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$7.50
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Italian Curry Bush
H. italicum syn. H. angustifolium, H. serotinum
A densely foliaged silvery-white splendid shrub for a well drained sunny position. On a warm day the rich tantalising scent of curry wafts far and wide and the slightest touch to the foliage releases the same fragrance. Heads of tiny yellow button flowers. It forms a dense, lax bush and can also look splendid over a bank or spilling from a large pot.Like H. stoechas , the leaves should be finely chopped and added at the end of cooking.
Temporarily unavailable
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$7.50
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Dill
Aethum graveolens
'Dukat'
This variety has been selected for its plentiful bright green fragrant foliage. It is very pretty when flowering, with masses of tiny yellow flowers borne in umbels, followed by seeds which are widely used in pickles, sauerkraut, sauces and salads. The leaves and seeds of dill are used in many recipes from breads to stuffings, fish dishes to preserves particularly in Scandinavian, German, and Russian recipes. Dill butter is marvellous melted over grilled or barbequed fish, and perfect with whole boiled baby potatoes.
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$6.50
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Earth Chestnut
Bunium bulbocastanum
This relative of parsley and celery has leaves that resemble chervil and flowers like Queen Anne's Lace. Underground it produces large clusters of small oval tubers which are black on the outside and white within. They have a delicious flavour like cooked chestnuts, and are eaten raw or cooked. In France it is known as chateigne de terre, cumin tuberéux and noir de terre among a variety of names, and can sometimes be seen in village markets in autumn. It was once a well known food plant in Europe and is becoming sought out again in Italy where it is called castagne di terra, and Germany where it is known as Erdkastanie and Knollenkummel. The seeds are used as a spice with a flavour like cumin. the leaves resemble chervil and are used as a garnish or flavouring, much like parsley. Very rare in Australia. It prefers a moist soil and good sunlight exposure.
Temporarily unavailable
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$9.50
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Elderberry, Black
Sambucus nigra
The original elderberry with green leaves with its creamy masses of blossom and black berries for wine, jams, conserves, pies; used medicinally with peppermint and yarrow in the treatment of colds and used in combination for a number of other conditions; depending on the mordant can produce grey, violet, blue or golden brown colour when used as a dye; the flowers are widely used cosmetically.
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$12.50
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Golden
S. nigra var. aureum
A delightful small tree with clear golden leaves and large sweet-smelling creamy clusters of flowers followed by masses of black berries in autumn. Said to ward off witches! Lovely for elderflower fritters, elderblow champagne, elderberry wine and jelly, ointments for burns and creams for the skin. A marvellous, indispensable herb.
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$14.95
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Variegated Elder Flower
Sambucus nigra Variegata
This is one of the prettiest variegated small trees, and when in flower with its huge heads of tiny white, richly fragrant flowers is a true traffic stopper. It has all the herbal virtues of the ordinary elder tree but the deep green leaves are variegated at the edges with palest cream creating a beautiful light and shade effect when the wind blows. It is exceptionally obliging, growing well in full sun and tolerant of a wide range of soils. Use the fragrant flowers in fritters, to flavour sorbets, jellies and make a delicious traditional sparkling wine, known until recently as elderflower champagne, A contretemps with the champagne makers of France outlawed the English name for this delicious fizzy drink which is produced by fermentation) The autumn berries can be used to make an excellent jelly, cordial or elderberry wine.
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$14.50
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A Fennel Tip:
The tall yellow flowering anise scented wild fennel found along roadsides is true fennel introduced by early settlers. Provided it is not growing on a busy highway which could taint it with lead, and the local council has not decided to spray it (!), cut a few armfuls of stems, cut them into lengths of about 30 cm, and dry them. Barbequed seafoods are delicious when a few of these sticks are placed over the coals to add their special flavour. How wasteful we are in Australia. Such bounty would certainly be harvested in Europe. If you have any doubts about your identification skills, the strong aniseed scent is a very good indicator, but check the plants against a reliable image in a book or on this website.
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Bronze Fennel
F. vulgare var.
Not only is this an excellent culinary variety but it is an exceptionally decorative plant, erect growing to around 1.4 m, with abundant feathery foliage in a colour which is a rich vibrant smoky bronze. It adds height, texture and drama to the herb garden and looks equally spectacular in the ornamental garden. (We've seen it, for instance, make a superb backdrop planting for pink flowered varieties of heritage roses, and as a background to a mixed planting of lavender, silver leafed curry bush, Artemisia 'Powys castle' and silver-green foliaged pink flowered Cistus 'Greyswood Pink'.) Use it every way that regular sweet fennel is used.
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$6.50
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Sweet Leaf
F. vulgare var.
This variant on thespecies can be found in the wild in France. Its growth pattern is slightly different to the trained eye, but your nose andtaste buds would quickly detect the difference between the wild fennel which grows along the roadsides in Australia and this special form. It smells of very sweet anise and both the leaves and th seed are perceptibly sweeter too.
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$6.50
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Galangal
This is a member of the gingers and is often used with or instead of ginger in Asian cooking. The fresh rhizomes are used. A tall handsome ginger plant.
Please note, available from October to May only
Temporarily unavailable
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$9.50
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Hyssop
Hyssopus officinalis
An exceptionally pretty, ancient plant mentioned in the bible and related to the mints. it has a dry, minty, slightly bitter leaves that are finely chopped and added to game meats, stews, soups and salads. A tea made from the leaves of hyssop and sweetened with honey has long been used for digestive problems, to treat throat infections, and for insomnia. A poultice of the herbs was used to treat bruises and wounds, and it has mild It was also considered to ward off evil in the medieval period. Today it is still used as a tea sprinkled around the home to ward off negativity. The essential oil is used in perfumery. It makes a neat subshrub to 50-60cm with many spikes of beautiful rose pink sweetly scented flowers which are very attractive to bees. Plant it in full sun to light afternoon shade in a well drained position.
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$6.95
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Lemon Balm or Bee Balm
Melissa officinalis
A fresh green, handsome plant with a delicious lemon fragrance.The flowers are white, tiny, lipped, borne in whorls along spikes, and filled with bustling bees. It is an important constituent of several liquers including Benedictine and Chartreuse, and is used in herbal medicine for nausea, minor gastric upsets and headaches and it has a mild sedative effect. Housewives once polished wooden furniture with handfuls of lemon balm which is rich in lemon fragrant oil and left furniture fragrant and softly shining. The fresh leaves are soothing when rubbed on insect bites. Dried leaves are used in pot pourris, herb pillows and in aromatic bath mixtures. The fresh finely chopped leaves are delicious in fruit salads, jellies, soups, salads, fish and poultry dishes, and finely chopped in potato salad. Sprigs are used to garnish summer drinks. It is also known as bee balm (not to be confused with Monarda which shares this common name), and when rubbed on hives keeps bees from straying. This herb means sympathy In the Victorian age flower language.
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$6.50
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Citronella Balm
Melissa officinalis
This variety resembles Lemon Balm in all respects other than the scent. Rated at twice the essential oil content of any other Melissa variety, it gives an explosion of lemon fragrance when the leaves are rubbed. It is a compact growing form to around 30-40 cm and is well suited to growing in a pot when space is limited. Morning sun or light shade and a moist compost enriched soil are ideal for its growth. It makes an outstanding herbal tea, delicious, refreshing, and calming.
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$7.50
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Golden Variegated
M. officinalis var. variegata
This is an exceptionally pretty form to be grown under light shade to prevent sun scorching. The leaves are splashed liberally with gold and light up the garden. The whole plant has a delightfully fresh lemon fragrance and i used in the same way as the green leafed form.
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$7.50
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Lemon Grass
Cymbogen citratus
A marvellous grassy herb which can grow into a handsome clump a metre high and wide and is strongly, refreshingly lemon fragrant. It makes an excellent tea, is a must for Thai, Malayan, and Vietnamese cooking, and creates a whole new dimension to a baked whole fish when used as a stuffing. Use the white bases of the stalks for cooking, bruising them to release their essential oils. It requires a sunny position and regular watering.
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$7.50
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Lemon Scented Tea Tree
Leptospermum petersonii
This was an early tea plant for colonial Australian and a beautiful tall shrub covering in snowy flowers. The leaves have a superb lemonfagrance which can be imparted to food used in the same way as lemon balm, and lemon verbena. Try adding afew leaves to a regular cup of tea to capture its delicious fragrance and hint of the Australian bush.
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$8.50
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Lemon Verbena
Lippia citriodora
A shrub to 3m with light green pointed leaves and sprays of tiny white or lilac flowers in late summer. Can be grown in pots and brought indoors for winter in frost areas. The leaves have a delicious lemon fragrance which can be used in hot and iced teas, and as a flavouring for cakes and biscuits,. It makes a refreshing addition to posies, especially for an ill friend, and the leaves are dried for use in sleep pillows, and pot pourri.
see also Lime Verbena
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$8.50
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Lime Verbena
Aloysia triphylla
Absolutely irresistible! Many of you will be familiar with the delightful Lemon Verbena shrub with its intensely lemon scented foliage used in herbal teas, to flavour everything from seafood to cakes, and used particularly in the French perfumery industry. Now there is a Lime Verbena. It looks just the same but the scent is that or pure freshly squeezed Tahitian lime. It would make a perfect fragrant garden hedge or feature planting for a herb garden and the large sprays of fairy-like white flowers make it equally welcome in the flower garden or grown in a large pot.
see also Lemon Verbena
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$12.95
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Lovage or Sea Parsley
Ligusticum officinalis
A tall (2.5m) handsome perennial with dark green celerylike leaves, large heads of tiny green flowers followed by brown seed heads. Grow in a moist or well mulched soil. Adds a spicy celery flavour to soups, stews and casseroles. Use young leaves in salads, and the seeds are delicious sprinkled over cheese biscuits before baking. North American Indians ate it raw, sailors and fishermen ate it for its scurvy-preventing properties as it is high in Vitamin C, and it found great popularity in Scotland as a culinary herb where it is known as shunis.
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$6.50
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Sweet or Knotted Marjoram or Joy of the Mountains
Origanum marjorana
The fragrance of this soft grey subshrub is indeed enough to make the heart sing, sweet and delicious and mouth-watering. The leaves are used fresh or dried in savoury dishes of every kind, in sauces, stuffings, and poultry dishes, and to add magic to salads and tomato dishes. The little white flowers repay attention, borne in tight symmetrical inflorescences for all the world as if plaited, and they are very attractive to bees.
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$6.50
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Winter Marjoram or Greek Oregano
Origanum heracleotium
Please see separate section Origanums
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Mints
For our huge collection from around the world, please see separate Section Mints
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Mugwort
Artemisia vulgaris
This is a plant of many uses. It is used to flavour ale as it brews and is still used to flavour poultry dishes, as well as being used as a herbal tobacco, and in relaxing foot baths. Also, try including a handful of the dried leaves together with fragrant relaxing herbs such as thyme and lavender in a sleep pillow. We can't guarantee it but many claim to have had extraordinarily adventurous technicolour dreams after sleeping on such a pillow.
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$8.50
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Niebieta
Calamintha sp.
A culinary herb from Italy originally, indispensible for wild game and meat dishes, and to flavour soft cheeses. It has a unique, oregano-like fragrance with a touch of mint. Rare.
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$6.50
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Oregano
Please see Separate Section Origanums for a number of different species and varieties of Origanum.
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Parsley
Gigante di Napoli
This richly aromatic superb quality old strain of parsley originates from Naples. It makes an exceptionally tall and vigorous plant with dark green abundant flat leaved foliage and it grows back even more strongly after harvesting.
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$6.95
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Parsley Japanese or Mitsuba
Cryptotaenia japonica
A superb broadleafed plant much used in Asian cooking. Rather like a slender young celery to look at, and the flavour is a cross between parsley and celery.
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$6.95
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Passionfruit Marigold
T. lemmonii
This is one of the great mimics of the plant world and a stunning sight in flower. It forms a long lived, dome shaped shrub with deeply incised evergreen foliage which is richly and unmistakably scented of ripe passionfruit. It flowers with such abundance that it is a traffic stopper, covering in sunshine gold, medium sized, single marigold flowers in autumn and winter. It originates from the Mexican highlands and Texas, and never turns a hair for us under winter conditions, yet it is drought hardy. Sometimes known as the Mount Lemmon Marigold, Mountain Daisy or Copper Canyon Daisy (Copper Canyon is in the Santa Catalina Mountains), it also finds medicinal uses in Mexico and is a good insect repellent and companion plant. There are various strains around including a lemon scented type known as Lemon Mint Marigold but this is the true passionfruit scented form imported by us from the United States.
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$8.50
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Pennyroyal
Mentha pulegioides
This is a glossy green-leafed dense groundcover plant which sends up very pretty densely whorled spikes of tiny lavender flowers in summer. The leaves should be used with a light had as they are very strongly minty in flavour. It goes very well with fresh chunked pineapple, and with boiled new season potatoes. Avoid its use during pregnancy or if planning a pregnancy as it can cause a miscarriage. It is also an excellent flea repellent (put some into dog and cat baskets), and is also a repellent of gnats which usually descend at dusk.
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$6.50
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Pineapple Guava
Feijoa sallowiana
This delicious fruit, ideally suited to a suburban garden, is too little eaten or grown in Australia. It forms a small neat tree which can reach 6 m in subtropical areas but more likely 4 m and is tolerant of light frosts and most soil types.. It flowers in spring producing profuse small clusters of quite large and very handsome fuchsia-like flowers with white petals and a dense cluster of long crimson red stamens. The egg-shaped and egg sized green fruits that follow ripen in autumn and have a delicious fragrance and flavour that is part pineapple and part banana. They are usually simply eaten fresh, hollowing out the flesh with a spoon. They also make delicious additions to fruit salads, baked cakes, muffins and puddings, as well as in tropical salsas. Plant in full sun to partial shade in well composted soil and mulch in summer (keeping the mulch away from the trunk).
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$12.50
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Primrose, Wild
Primula vulgaris
This is the original wild fragrant perennial primrose of England, with masses of pale yellow sweetly scented flowers in spring. The fresh young green leaves are added to spring salads, the fresh flowers are crystallised (see section In The Kitchen on this website). to decorate desserts and cakes, and to make primrose wine. The dried flowers are used to make a tea to relieve tension, coughs, and sleeplessness.
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$8.50
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Wild Provence Marjoram
O. vulgare
This is a superb culinary marjoram with a delicious aroma and flavour. It is a low growing, creeping. densely bushy form with neat small leaves. Touching it for its wild fragrance is almost irresistible. It is perfect for all savoury uses and is quietly charming in flower. It is cold resistant
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$7.50
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Rosemary
We have a very large collection of rosemaries in a wonderful array of forms and flower colours, all of them filled with the energising delicious wild scent of rosemary. Please see the separate section Rosemary and Thyme
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Sage
Our huge collection of sages including many culinary sages as well as those used for their fragrance can be found in the separate section Salvias
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Savory of Crete also known as Pink Savory and Roman Hyssop
Satureja thymbra
This one of the wild herbs of the Greek island of Crete, It forms a tough, low growing, woody subshrub with stiff little leaves and very attractive flowering stems with many whorls of little soft pink flowers. The scent is simply sensational, a mouth-watering blend of oregano and thyme. It is also one of the commonest components of the mouth watering Middle Eastern culinary herb mixture known as Za'atar (The principal ingredient is Syrian Oregano which will be available as Za'atar from Feb 2012 onward).
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$8.50
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Savory, Lemon
Satureja. Biflora
A sensational savory from South Africa with an intense delicious lemon scent and flavour. Wonderful with baked fish, and in herb teas. It is very easy to grow in a sunny well drained position, forming a low mat of very freh green fine foliage, and flowering spectacularly in late spring and summer to resemble a lavender flowered heather. It grows delightfully well in a large pot in a sunny corner.
Rare.
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$8.50
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'Creeping Savory ' or 'Matting Winter Savory'
S. repandra
Not only useful culinary herb but makes a lovely ground cover with fresh green leaves. Smothers in delightful delicate white bell-like flowers in midsummer and autumn and is always rushed in the nursery. A favourite with bees.
Rare.
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$6.95
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Society Garlic
Tulbaghia violacea
See Chives above
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Sorrel, Garden
Rumex acetosa
This is the most favoured variety in France of this large, succulent leaved vegetable. it has lemon-acid tasting leaves used in salads and the famed French sorrel soup.
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$6.50
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Stevia or Sweet Honey Leaf or Candy Leaf or Sweetleaf or Sweet Herb of Paraguay
Stevia rebaudiana
This important herb makes a welcome return to our Gourmet Herb list. We have superb plants available at the moment. Stevia is a natural sweetener (it is approved in Australia and New Zealand as a sweetener in foods and beverages), and has been used in South America for more than 1,500 years. The dried leaves are up to 30 times sweeter than sugar. It is a herbaceous perennial with large, pretty, dense panicles of small snow white flowers attractive to butterflies.
Temporarily unavailable
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$8.50
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Sweet Woodruff
Asperula odorata
This is a delightful little glossy leaved groundcover plant for growing around shrubs and trees. In spring , the plants are covered in tiny starry white flowers. When green the plant has the scent of green moss, but even a single dried leaf has the strongest scent of new mown hay due to the high level of coumarin. In Germany, and in the USA it is used in the traditional May Day celebrations ( which is known in the Druidic calendar as Beltane ). The fresh sprigs are floated on a wine punch compounded of white wine (Reisling is ideal or, even better, champagne, or half and half ) , brandy, and a mixture of sugar and sliced hulled strawberries mashed together. A block of ice is placed in the punch bowl, and the punch mixture is poured over the ice. To further incorporate the fragrance of Woodruff, the dried leaves were steeped each year in the bottle of brandy for the festival. Wild spring violet flowers V. odorata were also sometimes floated on the punch. The dried leaves are delightful in pot pourri. Tuck a dried sprig in letters to friends!
Rare.
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$8.50
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Tarragon, French
Artemisia dracunculus
Our particular strain has a superb flavour and is now grown in large quantities for restaurants in Sydney. One French restaurateur said he had not tasted anything as good as our strain since he left France. It is famed for its use in fish dishes, sauces, tarragon vinegar, chicken and egg dishes.
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$7.95
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Winter Tarragon, Mexican Tarragon or Sweet Mace
Tagete lucida
An upright multi-stemmed perennial to around 65 cm with abundant dark green saw-toothed tender foliage which has the same sweet aniseed scent as French Tarragon and finds the same culinary uses. It extends the season for tarragon, coming into growth earlier in spring and lasting longer into late autumn/early winter. The flowers are like gilded buttons, borne in clusters at the top of each stem.
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$7.95
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Tea Camellia
Camellia sinensis
An exquisite ornamental species as well as being the tea of commerce. It originates from China through to to Assam with dark serrated foliage and exquisite pendulous single white blooms faintly suffused with pink which have a large puff of golden stamens. The flowers are borne in profusion down the stems.
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$14.95
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Za'atar
Origanum syriacum
From the Middle East, this oregano has superlative flavour and fragrance. It is frequently the principal ingredient of the herb mixture also known as za'atar used to sprinkle on flat breas, in dips, on hummos, an soups and other dishes. It forms a low growing (to around 35 cm) grey leafed multi-stemmed sub-shrub with heads of tiny white terminal flowers in summer. Scholars now now consider it to be ezov, the mis-translated 'hyssop' of the Bible. Other names it is known by are Syrian Hyssop, White Oregano, and Lebanese Oregano.
Temporarily unavailable
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$8.50
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Expect to find some rare, and superb gourmet heirloom vegetables in pots on the shelves at Honeysuckle Cottage for spring-summer planting, and for late autumn planting, varieties that are in many cases found nowhere else in Australia, from melons and cucumbers to eggplants, tomatoes, artichokes, okra, endive, kale, cabbage, and others.
Would you like to explore more of the Honeysuckle Cottage website
filled with huge collections of rare heirloom flowers, gourmet herbs
and vegetables, seeds, fragrant and useful herbs, and masses of
fascinating articles? Then click here.
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