Hello, I am new to the forum and the site. We have just acquired a small acreage in NW Alberta and would like to find herbs for our hardiness zone - 2B. Any suggestions where to look?

Much obliged.. peg

Hi Peg I've found a few perrenial herbs to be hardy for me, French Tarragon, Lovage, and Valerian. We can also grow thyme, sage, dill, summer savoury, and parsley - but they won't survive the winter. I've got some creeping thyme and mother of thyme that survive, but I don't think they are culinary herbs. A great source for herb seeds and plants is richter's www.richters.com They are in Ontario, and I've ordered stuff from them that I've been happy with.

Hi Peg, welcome to the forum and site. You can really grow any herbs as long as you treat them as annuals. I would start out with what you see in your local garden centers and go from there. Here I grow rosemary and also lavender. I bring my rosemary in each fall. I also grow tarragon and have wooley thyme that is not really edible but very useful as ground cover around my urn and it does come back each year as it is the hardiest of the thymes.

thank you kindly for your welcome and your replies.. I'll start my research with your suggestions :) peg

Hi Peg It sounds like you are near Hinton or Edson. If you are getting the nightly cold air masses coming off the mountains, you might want some local hints. The local greenhouse is a good start. I was down there last August and days were 25c while the nights were down to 5c. My retired relatives have found that their key to success is using a greenhouse. The greenhouse is used for an early start on frost sensitive plants like basil. They also keep tomatoes in pots all summer and don't try to fight nature. The greenhouse is nothing fancy: simply a 2x4 frame covered in plastic. There is enough heat absorbed in the day to extend the growing season by a few weeks at either end of the frost time. Another trick is to use raised beds. Even a 10" raised bed facing south gives you an edge. Last year we had one of our coldest summers in Sudbury. My two tomato plants started delivering results in early August while my garden bed (10 feet away) produced next to nothing all season. Another trick my relatives use is to mulch very heavily with straw and manure; a product of the acreage.

Donna's sage is a recipe for success. But I always like to stretch the "zone envelope". Duncan