Basil 'Tauris' – Sweet Basil Herb (Set of 3 or 6)

Basil 'Tauris' is a sweet basil with large, glossy green leaves and a strong, warm scent for the kitchen.

It makes a compact, bushy plant around 30 to 50cm tall and 20 to 30cm across, and was selected for better vigour and improved resistance to basil downy mildew. Pick from the top of the plant and pinch the growing tips out regularly to keep it bushy and delay flowering. Leaves are cut from June through to October.

Basil needs warmth. It is killed outright by the first frost and sulks on cold wet nights well before that, so it is grown fresh every year and never treated as hardy. A bright kitchen windowsill or a greenhouse suits it best, and it can go outside into a sheltered, sunny spot for high summer. Keep the compost evenly moist but never waterlogged, and give it at least six hours of sun a day.

Supplied as three or six well established plants, each in a 1L pot, ready to pot on into a container, a herb planter or a raised bed.

Cultural Information

• Common Name: Sweet basil
• Fully Grown Height and Spread: 30 to 50cm tall by 20 to 30cm across
• Growth Habit: Compact, bushy and upright
• Perfect For: A sunny kitchen windowsill, patio pots, herb planters and raised beds
• Foliage: Large, glossy, dark green aromatic leaves
• Flowering Time: Summer, though the flowerheads are usually pinched out to keep the leaves coming
• Planting Position: Full sun and shelter. Grows well in a pot indoors or out
• Soil Type: Fertile, moist and well drained
• Hardiness: Not hardy at all. Killed by the first frost, so it is grown fresh each year
• Maintenance: Water regularly, pinch out the growing tips for bushy growth and harvest from the top
• Seasonal Interest: Summer and autumn
• Type: Tender annual herb