This is a sterile hybrid basil that seems to be more resistant to disease than other varieties. It should develop a purple color on some surfaces, but some of our plants seem to have lost that gene. Basil likes soil rich in organic matter, with high amounts of nitrogen and potassium. Our soils leach both of these readily, and therefore, you should replace them regularly when growing basil. If the plant has enough nitrogen, it should grow plenty of leaves before the bud appears, giving you more basil than you can likely use.

African Blue Basil

Harvest the growing tips when the flower buds appear by cutting a few nodes back from the bud. If you do not do this, your basil plant will soon become little more than stalks of dead flowers, with little culinary usage. If you only harvest the bud node, the plant will just grow more buds, without growing any leaves in between.

African Blue Basil

Basil, especially African Blue, is easily propagated with cuttings of new growth.

pdf African Blue Basil Information Sheet
(to print out)