Flowering herbs

[Lady Willow]

Hi folks

I normally sow my herbs fresh evey year ... but a couple of potted sage and thyme plants were overlooked and are now about to flower. The sage particularly looks like the flowers will be lovely ... would I be made to allow them to flower? Will I end up with masses of sage and thyme plants everywehre? ... mmmm , that sounds quite nice acutally.

Advice please.

Thankx

[MKG]

Can't speak for thyme, but we have a sage bush which is now into its fifth year and still going strong. It flowers and, I assume, drops seeds every year, but we still have only the one plant. Mind you, it is sitting in a large container so that may have something to do with it.

[Millymollymandy]

Mine's in the ground and has sadly not self-seeded. I don't know why you wouldn't want things to either flower or self seed. Then you wouldn't need to keep sowing more plants!

Plus the butterflies love them!

[possum]

let it self seed, the worst is that you have loads of plants to give away to friends. My sage is well and truely in need of a hair cut, else it is destine to take over an entire border in the veggie patch

[hedgewitch]

I agree with letting them go to seed. The ONLY herb (that I can think of pre second cup of tea) that I don't let go to seed is basil. I chop them off, take the leaves off and plonk 'em in a vase.
Makes the kitchen smell of pesto but they're a good mosquito detterent AND the seeds will fall off onto the table for me to collect and store.

[lsm1066]

My sage is well and truely in need of a hair cut, else it is destine to take over an entire border in the veggie patch

My sage (which I got from a school summer fayre last year, courtesy of a year 2 science project) is flowering like crazy this year when it didn't at all last year. I plan on cutting some of the flowers and letting the rest go to seed. I'm completely redesigning the area they're in next year, so the more seeds, the merrier

Lynne

[Cheezy]

I've never seen baby sage plants from self seed....which is a bit wierd.

However if you want to propagate sage all you have to do is bend a branch down to the soil, pin it in place, and it should root eventually. Once rooted you can cut it from the mother plant and repot.

I haven't seen thyme either now I come to think. However we get loads of self seeded lavinder.

[possum]

I've never seen baby sage plants from self seed....which is a bit wierd.

I bought some seeds last year, about 2 germinated, I now have an area about 3/4 metre x 3/4 metre covered in the stuff.

[Millymollymandy]

I have self-seeded wild thyme everywhere Cheezy! I also have one plant of another variety of thyme which is a baby of the one I originally bought - very good timing as that one had got old and woody! Oregano (green and golden) self seed with abandon too.

Sage is the only herb I have that doesn't flower very well, although it grows enormous and I have to cut it back hard.

[maddles]

At my previous house the sage and thyme flowered but I never had a new seedlings springing up.

I sowed some sage and thyme seeds in March and they've all come up really well.

You probably don't need to worry too much about being inundated with seedlings for these two herbs, if it was feverfew, borage or evening primrose to name just a few then it would be a very different story!

Enjoy your flowers!

[the.fee.fairy]

I've got some sages that flower too.

I love the flowers! They smell beautiful! I've never seen seeds from them...must look harder this year...

[Enormous Sage]

I'm not sure I'm flowering, but I'm certainly going to seed.

[Wombat]

We have lots of self seeded basil!

[Millymollymandy]

I'm not sure I'm flowering, but I'm certainly going to seed.

[Mal]

The person who had my allotment before me planted mint in the ground .
What was he thinking? Now I'm spending every trip trying to hunt down the roots whilst not digging up my veggies. Mind you, I'm storing up trouble by just chucking the roots on to my nettle patch/compost at the back. I kind of want the mint and the nettles to have a fight. Not sure that's how it works though.