That herb festival in Asheville changed how I buy seedlings

I drove down to the Mountain Herb Festival last May and watched a vendor sell pots of something labeled as sweet basil, only to see a woman buy three, sniff them, and say, "these are lemon balm, not basil." The seller shrugged and said they all look alike in early spring. I had bought two of those same pots an hour earlier. I drove all the way back home to Knoxville and planted them anyway, but now I grow everything from seed or buy from a nursery I trust. Even the big box stores mix up mint varieties all the time, and that can ruin a whole batch of pesto or tea. Has anyone else gotten mislabeled herbs from a festival or market, and what did you do about it?

2 comments

2 Comments

west.anna20d ago

Learned that lesson too, now I pinch leaves and smell before buying anything.

the_nina20d ago

That trick works until you grab a plant that smells fine but has spider mites hiding underneath. Then you're doing the whole quarantine dance with every new purchase anyway. Guess that's the real lesson, check the undersides of the leaves before you trust the sniff test.