* Height: 30-45cm, easy to grow.
* Dark opal basil was a 1962 winner of the All-American Selection award.
* It is a popular sweet basil with regal, purple-black glossy foliage and pale pink flowers and a delicious aroma. Used as a culinary herb it gives both good flavour and attractive appearance. It can be used in fresh or dried form and can be frozen for later use. It works particularly well in salads and stir fry and is excellent when grown to micro-leaf stage for adding to salads and sandwiches. Dark Opal basil will turn basil vinegar a beautiful shade of mauve.
How to grow:
* Sow on the surface of a good free draining, damp seed compost.
* Loves full-sun and regular water. It is easily grown in a small pot and can be grown indoors on a sunny windowsill.
* Pinch it back early and often to encourage bushiness. Do not let it flower unless you want to let it set seed as this destroys the flavor and shortens the lifespan of the plant.
* Need light to stay in rich purple colour or else will turn greenish.
* Dark opal basil was a 1962 winner of the All-American Selection award.
* It is a popular sweet basil with regal, purple-black glossy foliage and pale pink flowers and a delicious aroma. Used as a culinary herb it gives both good flavour and attractive appearance. It can be used in fresh or dried form and can be frozen for later use. It works particularly well in salads and stir fry and is excellent when grown to micro-leaf stage for adding to salads and sandwiches. Dark Opal basil will turn basil vinegar a beautiful shade of mauve.
How to grow:
* Sow on the surface of a good free draining, damp seed compost.
* Loves full-sun and regular water. It is easily grown in a small pot and can be grown indoors on a sunny windowsill.
* Pinch it back early and often to encourage bushiness. Do not let it flower unless you want to let it set seed as this destroys the flavor and shortens the lifespan of the plant.
* Need light to stay in rich purple colour or else will turn greenish.