is my basil dead?

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

Reply to
acannell
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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

Reply to
acannell

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.

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

Reply to
Pat Kiewicz

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.

Reply to
Omelet

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.

Reply to
Just Another

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

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.

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

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

Reply to
Omelet

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

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.

Reply to
Just Another

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!

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?

Reply to
Omelet

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

-- ESGie

Reply to
ESGie

nice one thanks for all the advice much appreciate

-- chrismorris

Reply to
chrismorris

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