Purple Aroma. Ocinum basilicum 'Purpurascens', Red Basil, and Honeybee, Apis mellifera, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
As a youth hiking the stony monopatis of the Pindos or Taygetus Mountains of Greece - before new asphalted roads destroyed the ancient landscapes - I'd often be hailed at dusk for a muscle-strengthening ypovrichio or a spoonful of honey and given a place to unroll my sleeping bag on a stone porch away from stray dogs. Continuing my way again as the Sun rose, invariably a pretty maiden or her mother would tuck a sprig of Sweet Basil behind my ear for godspeed... And a lad of the family would point me in the right direction. Ah! The days of yore!
My memories were stirred this morning by this pretty, sweet-smelling Red Basil. 'Purpurascens' is a cultivar. It was developed in the 1950s by John Scarchuk and Joseph Lent of the Agricultural Station of the University of Connecticut at Coventry, the Lee Farm.
Honeybee - not collecting pollen - couldn't resist its nectar in the Amsterdam Hortus!
Purple Aroma. Ocinum basilicum 'Purpurascens', Red Basil, and Honeybee, Apis mellifera, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
As a youth hiking the stony monopatis of the Pindos or Taygetus Mountains of Greece - before new asphalted roads destroyed the ancient landscapes - I'd often be hailed at dusk for a muscle-strengthening ypovrichio or a spoonful of honey and given a place to unroll my sleeping bag on a stone porch away from stray dogs. Continuing my way again as the Sun rose, invariably a pretty maiden or her mother would tuck a sprig of Sweet Basil behind my ear for godspeed... And a lad of the family would point me in the right direction. Ah! The days of yore!
My memories were stirred this morning by this pretty, sweet-smelling Red Basil. 'Purpurascens' is a cultivar. It was developed in the 1950s by John Scarchuk and Joseph Lent of the Agricultural Station of the University of Connecticut at Coventry, the Lee Farm.
Honeybee - not collecting pollen - couldn't resist its nectar in the Amsterdam Hortus!