herbs in the summer

From a post I did on the Florida Forum of GardenWeb:

it's a tough time for herbs in the garden. here's what's coping with the heat/humidity/deluge/drought of late summer.

- rosemary: in pots, doing well. i've discovered that it's key to buy rosemary from local growers (mine are from seminole springs). i always underpot these. partial sun in the summer, full sun the rest of the year

-african blue basil: in the ground. not at its best now, but still tons of blooms and bees. i don't consider this a culinary herb, but i do use it in thai dishes. lots of camphor flavor.

-other basils: i had italian (genoa) basils in the ground and full sun, but they've all burned out/gone to seed. the surprise winner here is a purple basil still going strong. in years past, the purples have burned out early. this one i got from a friend, so i don't know the variety, but i plan to save the seeds. tony's greek columnar basil in a pot is thriving and about 3' tall right now.

-mint: spearmint, in a pot, almost full shade, lots of water, doing well.

-sweet marjoram: surprise of the year. got some from seminole, planted in the ground, still doing very well in nearly full sun.

-thyme: started to decline in july when we had so much rain. now dead. oh, well. i need to remember to get more.

-parsley: the ones in the ground went to seed at the beginning of the summer. i have one plant in a pot from winter that's still eking out life, but prognosis is poor. i've found just buying a new plant from the produce market once every other month or so works best. we use a LOT of parsley. i keep these in morning sun, afternoon shade.

-mexican tarragon: in a pot, next to the parsley. done very well. doesn't like to get dry, but thrives with lots of water.

-chives: great, no problems in a pot near the parsley. in the past my pots of chives have lasted more than a year. i throw them out because the flavor seems to grow worse with time.

-oregano: i don't know what kind, but purchased a couple years ago from seminole. even though it's in full sun in a small pot and has not been repotted since i bought it, this is more a mound of oregano than a pot. it's colonized the kumquat pot next to it, flowed across a garden path, and never looks unhappy. i should use this as a groundcover!