This year I planted sage, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. In case you’re about to ask, I don’t like parsely.
The cool thing is they’re all (theoretically) perennials. My sage and oregano from last year died, but I changed things; I used different breeds and planted deeper and used more plant food and hell, I’m an optimist. My lavender from last year is doing great, I might even get buds this year (last year it didn’t flower, but it was the first year).
My three year old rosemary isn’t looking good, so I cut it all the way back and took it out of the pot and put it in the soil. I think this is its only hope. I think it’s the rosemary version of dialysis. Meanwhile my new rosemary last year (a different breed with longer leaves) died when I brought it inside. So, I got one of those and put it in the pot I took the old one out of. (It’s nice to have some rosemary indoors in the winter.)
La, spring.
Our rosemary is not only thriving–it threatens to take over the world. We also have oregano that’s doing really well, and sage that seems to survive despite the attempted Anschluss by its power mad neighbors the rosemary and oregano. The thyme…I’m not sure how it’s doing. I think it’s hidden somewhere under the rosemary.
We did try parsley, but it didn’t do very well. We also have chives that never get very big but keep coming back from near-death.
I can’t believe I had to look up World War Two in order to understand a comment about gardening.
Your growing season in San Francisco is just about perfect for rosemary, which is a mild-weather perennial. A harsh winter can kill it, although mulching over it properly should save it.
I lost one rosemary to an exceptionally heavy snowfall that buried it. This 3-year old starting getting a bit sickly and developed a fine gray powder on its leaves mid-winter, and then stopped growing but didn’t die. The other rosemary that died I suspect just wasn’t getting enough sun. It was a failed experiment with a different window.
I tried chammolie, which was very successful until the landscapers pesticided it. I adore chammomile, but I only have one small plot to work with, and it would take over. If I had a second plot, I’d do it.