Promising Plants Profiles

Ocimum xcitriodorum 'Pesto Perpetuo'

Genus: Ocimum
Specific Epithet: xcitriodorum
Cultivar Name: 'Pesto Perpetuo'
Common Name: pesto perpetuo basil
Family: Lamiaceae

Flower Color: no flowers
Form: tender perennial best grown as an annual in most of N. America
Hardiness Zone: 9-11
Height: 4'
Soil: rich, well-drained soil
Sun: full sun

Uses: culinary, ornamental
Parts Used: leaves

"The first variegated basil in the trade is a sport of Greek columnar basil with the growth pattern in an upright columnar form to 4 feet. The foliage is light green, edged with white. 'Pesto Perpetuo' does not flower and carries a label stating PPAF (Plant Patent Applied For).* With these proprietary rights, propagation is prohibited. Home gardeners can share, but not for retail sale, and arrangements must be made to reproduce for the retail market. It is a most desirable cultivar for the herb garden, delightful to use for garnishing dishes and in salads, though other cultivars are a better choice for culinary uses like pesto. The flavor is slightly lemony. Best grown as an annual, but listed for Zones 9-11.

It will be more widely available this year... Wayside Gardens features this cultivar in a handsome wrought iron urn on the back of their spring 2006 catalogue. They suggest you winter the plant indoors. I'd suggest that if you do this that you take a group of cuttings."
– Dorothy Bonitz, Promising Plants Presentation, 2006

* The patent has been issued and is held by Sunny Border Nurseries, Inc. in Kensington, CT.

Plant Sources: Always Summer Herbs - Slippery Rock, PA; Weird Dude's Plant Zoo - Staunton, VA

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