I want to share with you some of the exceptional places that I come across from time to time. These places are gems and not to be missed if you are in the area, or they could even be a destination. Most have a “garden thread” to them. “Places To Know” can be retail, restaurants, nurseries, and other. Whatever the place, expect the unusual.

Can't find Chocolate Mint, Dark Opal Basil, or Cat Mint at your local nursery. You can find them all at Pearson's Gardens, along with about 800 other herbs. Pearson's Gardens is a specialty nursery who grow potted herbs, potted heirloom vegetables, scented geraniums, unusual edibles, and ethnobotanical herbs. (Ethnobotanical, is an adjective describing the scientific study of traditional knowledge and customs of a people relating to their use of plants for medical, religious, and other uses.)

Tucked away in the hills of Vista, this nursery is a treat to visit. All of Pearson's Gardens plants are naturally grown in rich organic soil, and plain ol' Southern California sun. No chemicals or pesticides are used here. If you are not in the vicinity their herbs may be purchased online, too.

Whether you are new to incorporating herbs into your life, or a veteran in gardening and cooking with them, Pearson's Gardens will still surprise you at their vast selection and "herb niche" they have created. Thank you, Cindy and Mark, always kind and gracious when visiting them on site, were happy to respond to my e-mail interview questions about their business below. Pearson's Gardens, 1150 Beverly Drive, Vista, CA 92084. (tel) (760) 726-0717, Monday through Friday, 9am - 4pm.

1) How did you and Mark get started in the herb nursery business? Was it a hobby that blossomed? Your intention all along to grow herbs? Why herbs in particular?

We began growing herbs out of personal interest and as a sideline to our indoor & exotic plant business. Personally, I didn't think it would ever amount to much because herbs had such low regard in the gardening community. However, with better cultivation techniques herbs broke into the mainstream of both culinary and garden circles. As public demand grew, our herb selection grew from about 50 common varieties to over 800!

Why herbs? Both Mark and I are lifelong health nuts. We have always sought out natural, healthy, homegrown foodstuffs. Herbs were a pursuit waiting to happen....

2) With the popularity today of growing your own edibles, has this trend affected your business in any way?

The recent explosion of interest in growing edibles has encouraged us to expand our offerings to include a significant selection of gourmet vegetables, heirloom tomatoes, and more truly unusual edibles from around the world.

3) Is there anything that you would like to say about herbs, (growing, cooking, in the garden), that people might not know about? You can be general or specific.

In the realm of herbs exists the story of history itself. Herbs have been carried in ships by early explorers, by wind and birds, and in pockets of immigrants seeking a new homeland. In their travels they bring part of the culture from the place the journey began.

4) I think I heard you speak of culinary chefs seeking you out for certain harder to find herbs. Please name some of them, and what they might be used for.

Yerba Santa/Hoja Santa Piper sanctum is used in Mexican and Central American cuisine as a flavor infusing wrap, as well as to flavor sauces and entrees.

Mentuccia/ Nepitella Calamintha nepeta, native to Tuscany, might be thought of as a minty oregano flavor that is paired inseparably with mushrooms.

5) Who are your customers, local and online? Do you have specialty clients for certain herbs?

Since we grow an extensive selection of international culinary and ethnobotanical herbs, people from very continent walk through out gate!

6) You sell over 70 lavender varieties. Which is your favorite and why?

It's hard to narrow it down to just one. We favor Sweet Lavender for its year-round color. For fragrance and culinary use, it's a tie between Provence and Grosso.

7) If someone was new to growing herbs, and wanted to start using culinary herbs, what are your top ten basic recommendations?

The short answer is - the ones you use!

1. Basil 2. Parsley 3. Sage, Berggarten or Sage of Bath 4. Chives 5. Mint, Kentucky Colonel 6. Oregano, Greek 7. Rosemary 8. Tarragon, French 9. Dill 10. Cilantro

You are now growing heirloom vegetables and tomatoes besides herbs. Is this one of your new directions? Are there other directions you are going?

We are definitely continuing to expand our offerings of vegetables, tomatoes, as well as international and exotic edibles.

9) Are there any trends with selling herbs that you have noticed?

We are seeing more men, as well as young adults with a new found interest in herbs and edible gardening

10) Is there anything you would like to add, or mention? There is an exciting trend of edible landscaping and co-mingling herbs and vegetables within ornamental gardens. In doing so, gardeners should always remember to use food-safe products and practices.

Please comment if you use herbs in your life now. Please share which herbs are your favorites.

Special guest writer, Julie Mautner, gives us an insider's view on lavender in Provence. If you  have never seen fields of Provence lavender bursting in bloom, a trip to Provence could be in your future.

Food and travel writer Julie Mautner has lived in St. Remy de Provence on and off for more than ten years. Prior to running off to the South of France, she was the executive editor of Food Arts Magazine in New York for ten years. Today she freelances for food and travel magazines, and sites in the US and UK. Julie's popular blog, The Provence Post is a written pulse on Provence. Her first book, The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook, will be published by Clarkson Potter in November 2010...VintageGardenGal

Driving or biking through Provence in mid-summer, you’ll see lavender fields of every size and hue. The main growing area is the triangle between Sault, Banon and Sederon, and another prominent area spreads out on the other side of Mont Ventoux, north of Nyons. But pretty much all of Provence is radiant with the famous Blue Gold, as lavender is known, throughout the month of July.

The first lavender distilleries began production in the 1880s, and by 1929 there were 47 stills around the town of Sault alone. Today, the tiny town of Sault is still considered the lavender capital of Provence and its three distilleries are open to the public. The Sault Tourist Office offers seven guided tours of the principal lavandicoles or growing sites. In the town of Coustellet, you'll find a small museum devoted to lavender production, complete with a collection of copper stills dating from the 16th century.

If you time your trip right, you may catch a village lavender festival, like the ones in Sault and Valreas, or the biggie, the four-day Corso de la Lavande, in the mountain spa town of Digne-les-Baines. Held the first weekend in August, the festival offers lavender for sale in every form imaginable, edible and otherwise, and a parade of large flower-decked floats. A municipal truck leads the parade, spraying the roads with lavender water and leaving the entire town awash in the distinctive summery scent.

Don’t feel like going it alone? A lavender-themed tour is a great way to get the experience. This year, for example, an Australian company called Aroma Tours has organized five different Provencal trips including a Lavender Tour to be held July 23^rd to 30^th. Provence Reservation and City Discovery both offer one-day lavender tours from Avignon while others book similar half and full day tours out of Aix-en-Provence. Whichever tour operator you choose, rest assured you’ll be knee deep in lavender before well before lunch.

Around Provence you'll find scores of edible lavender goodies being made and sold, in shops, open-air markets and even larger grocery stores. In St. Remy, the cookie and sweet shop called Au Petit Duc sells little tins of crystallized lavender seeds, to be nibbled after garlicky meals, and biscuits à la lavande. Next door to Petit Duc, patissier Joel Durand sells homemade chocolates flavored with lavender, rosemary and other botanicals.

Lavender tea is a soothing drink thought by many to have medicinal qualities. But if you want something with more kick, you can get that from lavender too. And for that you don’t even need a passport.

Lisa Averbuch says her favorite flavor of all time is—wait for it—lavender. So it makes sense that her company, Loft Organic Liqueurs in Emeryville, California, turns out a killer lavender liqueur called Lavender Cello. (The whole company was inspired, she says, by the famous lemony Italian digestif. They also produce liqueurs made from lemongrass, ginger, raspberry, blueberry and tangerine.) Available year round, the lavender liqueur has all the floral aromas and smooth flavors you’ld expect, without any additives, preservatives, artificial flavors “or other items you would find in a Twinkie,” Averbuch says.

If you’re heading for France and plan to hit the lavender trail, there are many resources that can help.

The French Tourism Development Agency, also known as Atout France, offers an online guide for lavender lovers. To download it, click here France Guide Brochures, and scroll down to the publication called “Rhone Alpes: Lavender Routes 2009.”

The Association Grande Traversée des Alpes, (http://www.grande-traversee-alpes.com/my-journey/by-road/the-lavender-trail.html) also offers useful info about lavender and “La Route de la Lavande.” On the site you’ll find suggestions for the best drives and hikes, plus distillieries, lavender-themed activities, hiking, workshops and more.

And you’ll find more great lavender info on these two sites:

http://www.avignon-et-provence.com/provence-tourism/lavender/farm-lavender.htm

http://www.beyond.fr/themes/lavender_th.html

Sources and Resources Hint: To call from the U.S., precede all phone numbers with 011-33, and drop the first 0.

*Tourist Office, Sault. http://www.saultenprovence.com/gb/, 04-90-64-01-21

*Tourist Office, Valreas. http://www.ot-valreas.fr/uk/index.php5, 04-90-35-04-71

*Tourist Office, Digne-les-Bains. http://www.ot-dignelesbains.fr/www-accueil-138-UK-DIGNE_LES_BAINS.html, 04-92-31-50-02

*Musee de la Lavande. Route de Gordes, Cabrieres d'Avignon, 84220 Coustellet. 04-90-76-91-23. Fax 04-90-76-85-52.  http://www.thelavendermuseum.com/

*Au Petit Duc, St. Remy, 04-90-92-08-31, www.petit-duc.com

*Joel Durand Chocolatier, 04-90-92-38-25, www.chocolat-durand.com

*Lavender Cello is made by Loft Liqueurs,Emeryville, California, www.loftliquors.com,theLOFT@LOFTliqueurs.com

*Lavender Tours are available from many companies including:

City Discovery (www.city-discovery.com/provence/)

Provence Reservation (http://www.provence-reservation.com/en_2/index.php)

Aroma Tours (www.aroma-tours.com)

If You Love Lavender...concludes our "Encore Provence Series" with special guest writers Julie Mautner and James Clay. Many thanks for their delightful writing and armchair travel to charming Provence. Please share your comments.

Everyone should have a Bay Laurel Tree in your garden, if you are in zones 5-9, and 12-24. There are as many uses for this tree and its green glossy aromatic leaves, as its many names. The names Bay/Sweet Bay/Laurel, Laurus nobilis are all the same tree. Sweet Bay is currently enjoying recognition as the 2009 Herb of the Year, as chosen by, The International Herb Association.

The Bay Laurel Tree is a Mediterranean evergreen shrub or tree. It is a slow grower but eventually can reach 12-40 feet in height. Fortunately, it responds well to trimming and can be shaped into a desirable topiary form. A few years ago in my potager, or kitchen garden I planted a Bay Laurel Tree in the center and as a focal point. I have shaped it into a sphere on top, and am presently shaping a smaller lower sphere closer to the ground. Bay Laurel trees take full sun or partial shade and appreciate moderate water.

Bay Laurel leaves are really desirable for decorative use in a wreath or crown, and as a culinary use in many types of recipes, and the well-known "bouquet garni". It also has household, cosmetic, aromatic, and medicinal uses.

"Bouquet Garni" is a french term for a bouquet of fresh herbs, tied together with kitchen string, and generally allowed to dry before steeping in stews, soups, sauces, stock, marinades, and the like. Typically, fresh herbs are rolled together using parsley, thyme, and flanked by bay leaves.

Karen England, Edgehill Herb Farm, is a recognized herb expert, garden speaker, and teacher of herb-related cooking classes in the San Diego area. She spoke to The San Diego Horticulture Society this past summer on Bay Laurel, and in a hand-out shared these adapted instructions for creating a bay wreath.

Make Your Own Laurel Bay Wreath Supplies Needed: Fresh bay branches, wreath form, paddle wire (available at craft stores), clippers, and optional ribbon.

Directions: With clippers, cut bay branches into lots of approximately of 3-4" sprigs. Using the wire, attach securely the sprigs to the wreath form. How much bay you will need depends on the type and size of the form you have chosen. Hanging Tip: Dry the finished wreath flat on a table for a week or so before hanging. This will prevent your wreath from drooping and drying lopsided.

Use: These completed wreaths can be hung as a decoration in a room or on a door, used for culinary purposes dried, or even as a fresh "laurel crown" on your head, just in time for Halloween. You could also make a garland swag of Bay Laurel using a length of stiff straight wire.

Please note, all laurels except the Bay/Sweet Bay/Laurel are poisonous. Make sure you identify the correct Bay Laurel Tree.

Please add your thoughts on Bay Laurel? Do you have a tree in your garden? What are your favorite uses? Have you ever seen a freshly made verdant bay wreath?

There is nothing boring about Borage, Borago officinalis. It is the epitome of why herbs are so great, and how you can enjoy them in your garden as well as their many versatile uses.

"Borage is Bold", and has been associated with courage literally, since medieval times by its ability, to make people happy, dispel their melancholy, and comfort the heart.

Borage is an annual garden herb often seen in cottage gardens. It is a culinary herb traditionally, which also has the good fortune of attracting bees with its beautiful vibrant "periwinkle blue" flowers. There is also a white-flowered borage, which is not as common. Borage prefers full sun, little water, and tolerates poor soil. It is a tall plant in the garden, reaching at maturity 2-3' high and and 1-2' wide. Its leaves are hairy and somewhat prickly. It easily self sows in your garden, but does not transplant well.

Borage is a great companion plant for strawberry plants, actually enhancing their fruit flavor and yield. Also, tomato growers will be happy to know that borage enhances tomato vine growth and disease resistance when planted near by. Borage plants are an excellent source of calcium and potassium, so be sure and compost your spent plants.

Borage flowers are terrific used as a garnish, decorating, and styling. When my borage is blooming I harvest the "periwinkle blue" flowers and make "borage ice cubes". Imagine "borage ice cubes" bobbing in a refreshing homemade lavender-steeped lemonade this summer.

Borage flowers are one of the best edible flowers to use in your home-grown mixed green salad. Sprinkle your spring and summer salads with edible borage flowers, and your salads will "wow".

Candy your borage flowers for decorating and garnish, by crystallizing them for your special occasion cakes, cookies, and tea breads. Harvest and pick off your borage flower heads by gripping the black stamen tips and gently separate the flower from its green back. Rinse and dry edible borage flowers, holding one flower by a petal in your hand, dip a small unused artist paintbrush into a slightly beaten egg white at room temperature, and cover your entire borage flower. Dust your borage flower entirely with a superfine sugar. Let each flower dry completely on a waxed paper surface till free of moisture. This could be a number of days depending on your humidity. Store your dried, crystallized borage flowers in an airtight container. You probably will want to use them right away, but you could potentially keep them as long as a year. Garnish your desired sweet.

Besides borage flowers, young borage leaves have a slight cucumber flavor, and can be used in many types of recipes, too, such as chopped in fresh salads, added to cheeses, with pastas, and as a substitute for spinach.

My enamor with borage is for its beauty and benefit in the garden, and its fabulous attribute as a styling and decorating garnish. Its many additional uses include cosmetic, medicinal, and further culinary uses such as drinks, sauces, jelly, syrups, and more. Be bold with borage, and add some to your life.

If you are a gardener, chances are you like to grow herbs, too. One of the most beautiful herbs I have ever grown is the ornamental oregano, Kent Beauty, Origanum rotundifolium. While most oregano varieties are grown for their culinary use, Kent Beauty and a few other ornamental oregano varieties are not, and in fact, have no taste at all. Ornamental oregano are best used for their beauty in gardens, borders, and especially containers.

In the photo above, I created a tiny hanging basket out of a vintage horse muzzle, lined with moss, and planted with a 4" Kent Beauty plant. As the Kent Beauty grows, it spills gracefully over the sides of its re-purposed container. Its simplicity is enchanting.

Kent Beauty is a delightfully fragrant herb, attractive to bees, and has such a delicate "tossled" beauty about it. Its foliage is actually hard to describe. It has wiry stems that reach 4" in height, with beautiful blue-green stemless rounded leaves.

Off of these stem ends, bloom textured bracts, similar to hop, in a delicate mauve pale pink color throughout the summer. These delightful mauve pink bracts can be cut in full bloom, hung, and dried upside down for use in crafts.

Kent Beauty is native to Turkey, Armenia, and Republic of Georgia and is a hydrid ornamental oregano of Origanum rotundifolium x Origanum scabrum. I have seen multiple preferred climate zones for this herb, so check with your plant source for details for your area first, before purchasing.

Prune Kent Beauty closely back, after its summer bloom. It does best in well-drained soil. It prefers to be in dry soil, between thorough waterings. It is best to protect it from excessive winter moisture. It is available in local nurseries, and a good website I found for ornamental oregano varieties and purchasing is http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/index.html.