Hyssop/Shiso

[ivan3]

Here are a couple that do well in the woods (two-three hours of direct light/under hickories). The first is Lavender Hyssop, it used to be used (and I'd guess still is) as a flavoring agent (crushing a leaf is similar to crushing a star anise and taking a sniff). In full sun they'll top at over five feet. This patch by the fire pit is pretty much perennial and plenty of reseeding goes on.

The next is Japanese Red Shiso (a Perilla? not a basil - though it is hard to tell the difference except in size). I wouldn't use it for cooking but it is apparently popular in Japan. We continue to grow them, year after year, because of what they do with the sunlight at dawn and sundown, reflecting the light in such a way that they seem to glow with a chrome hue (tried to catch with flash). They have pink flower spikes, grow to a little over five and a half feet in full sun (one pictured is under a Red Cedar), and produce large quantities of seeds (annual).

Of course, the old standby, Catmint tea is available here, but the plant must be cleared of itinerant ornamentals before processing...

All of these, while not being deer/poultry proof, certainly aren't their favorites.

Ed: sp. (as usual)

 

[simple life]

Very pretty, thanks for sharing. That picture with the little toad looks like something out of a nature magazine.
Great Pic!!

 

[SewingDiva]

We have some Hyssop, it's a great plant! I think Shiso was orgiallly used as a garnish for sushi - now replaced by those green plastic things

Wonderful photos!

~Phyllis

 

[ivan3]

Yes, the Shiso is for sushi (the red also used for tinting vinegars and the like), but the deer won't eat it and neither will I. I'm interested in plants that were popular at the turn of the last century and then lost their `charm'; that grow with partial sunlight, in Oak/Hickory forest, like to hang out at -39 and are deer resistant (ruminant rats). From what I can garner, the Red Shiso was widely grown in U.S. in the 1880-1910 period, as was Hyssop. Below is a Sunset Hyssop (experiment from a remainder sale). Crushed leaf smells more of creosote than anything else (we'll see if it survives the winter).

To be honest, the only reason the Hyssop is so refulgent this year is owing to all this ***** rain (6 inches just since Sunday). We'll be giving away our blackberry+rasberry seedless jam until next summer, have never had this many Blackberries (nothing but a DNR cultivar, at that).

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

I've never heard of it before, but it looks a lot like mint. What is it used for?

 

[ivan3]

Apparently some species were used as cure-alls. The Lavender H. is good (in small amts.) for flavoring. Cass has dried and powdered flower heads and leaves, put into sachet bags and dipped them in hot toddies, a questionable improvement to my way of thinking. I prefer to tear off a few leaves from the plant and take a whiff now and then. Also, it is about as effective with our cats as the cat mint (probably has to do with Hyssops being `mints'), something about those terpenes I suppose. The pollinators like it, and it takes care of itself pretty much.

I found this when I was rooting around, as well:

"Simon and Schulter's Guide to Herbs and Spices tells us that Henri-Louis Pernod used aniseed, fennel, hyssop, and lemonbalm along with lesser amounts of angelica, star anise, dittany, juniper, nutmeg, and veronica. These ingredients were mascerated together with wormwood plants. After leaving the mixture to sit, water was added and the mixture was distilled. Dried herbs, including more wormwood, were added to the distillate, which was then diluted with alcohol to give a concentration of about 75% alcohol by volume (8). Different absinthe manufacturers used slightly different ingredients, sometimes using calamus, which has been purported to have psychoactive effects."

Google it, some folks still use it medically, it just doesn't enjoy the same wide following it once did.

The Shiso (Perilla) is used to make sugar substitutes.