Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 22 JuneA Holy Basil on 26 June, four pairs of sharply toothed yellow-green leaves on a stem flushed dusky purple-pink and bristling with white hairs along every rib and edge, a bigger maroon-stemmed sibling leaning in on a damp overcast day.Week of 28 SeptemberHoly Basil (Tulsi) in full flower on 29 September, its spikes still tipped with green buds while the lower whorls have already swollen into downturned calyces; a bumblebee works the pink mid-section in soft, shadowless light.Week of 28 SeptemberHoly Basil (Tulsi) on 29 September, most spikes past first bloom with only a scatter of pale lilac flowers left near the tips and the rest of the whorls set into cupped mauve calyces; a bumble bee clings head-down to one under soft overcast light.Week of 28 SeptemberHoly Basil (Tulsi) in full bloom on 29 September, a buff-thoraxed bumble bee gripping one spike head down among the pale lilac-pink whorls while the lower flowers have already dried to brown seed calyces. Flat overcast light, no shadows.Week of 28 SeptemberA bushy stand of square, finely haired stems on 29 September, slender spikes stacked in whorls where only a few pale pink flowers open at once, the rest drying purple-brown toward seed. A tawny-thoraxed bumblebee grips one whorl under flat overcast light.Week of 28 SeptemberHoly Basil (Tulsi) on 29 September, a bumble bee hanging head-down on the spike while four whorls near its middle carry open pink-mauve flowers and the whorls above and below have swollen into seed calyces, under flat overcast light.Week of 5 OctoberHoly Basil (Tulsi) on 7 October, many-branched and wider than tall, with dozens of slender racemes standing above the foliage, most already past bloom into beaded columns of purple-brown calyces. Low sun, hard shadows.
