I have a few plants that have never blossomed, and I have no clue when I should expect a blossom, or even how to promote the blossom.
Peppermint, Lemon Balm and Rosemary are the plants in particular that I am talking about.
The peppermint, I have had for a year and it was gifted to me by someone who had it for about a year. These are all potted plants at the moment.
The Rosemary, I have had since this spring, but, I bought it already started, at about 3 inches tall. It is growing, and is getting close to a foot tall now. I am not even sure if this particular "brand" of Rosemary is supposed to flower, but, I would assume that it should.
Lemon Balm, I just bought a couple of weeks ago, so, maybe I missed the blossom season, not sure, it is about 4 inches tall, maybe 5.
And, the next question, are the blossoms on these plants a food source?
Thanks in advance,
Sage
Hi sage 
Your peppermint probably won't flower while potted. All mints seem loath to if potted especially if you are harvesting as well.
The rosemary will probably start flowering next year as they need to reach a certain maturity before flowering and all rosemary varieties flower normally late Spring early Summer and if you are lucky with the weather sometimes again in the Autumn.
The lemon balm normally blooms in the Summer so you may very well have missed the blooming season.
All herbs are great nectar sources for lots of insects including bees, butterflies, moths, lacewings, hoverflies etc. Well worth growing especially next to anything else you want pollinated as they attract pollinators to any other plants you may have in the area and in the case of the hoverflies and lacewings you get the added benefit of predators for pests.
Your peppermint probably won't flower while potted. All mints seem loath to if potted especially if you are harvesting as well.
The rosemary will probably start flowering next year as they need to reach a certain maturity before flowering and all rosemary varieties flower normally late Spring early Summer and if you are lucky with the weather sometimes again in the Autumn.
The lemon balm normally blooms in the Summer so you may very well have missed the blooming season.
All herbs are great nectar sources for lots of insects including bees, butterflies, moths, lacewings, hoverflies etc. Well worth growing especially next to anything else you want pollinated as they attract pollinators to any other plants you may have in the area and in the case of the hoverflies and lacewings you get the added benefit of predators for pests.
Jess,
thanks again for your wonderfully insightful information. I have so much gratitude for all of the information you have given me over the last several months. The gardening bug has fully bitten me, and your help (along with others), has really made me already avoid some common mistakes, and, if you remember, to get my Antique rose to actually bloom this year....
I will be planting my new peppermint fairly soon, but, since I know it can choke some things out, I am going to make a patch specifically for this one. From what I hear, I have to make sure to actually plant mints away from other plants, because they can take on the flavour of some of the other plants, and while rose mint might taste good, I don't think I want it choking out my roses..
Obviously, I have a thing for all things minty, since rosemary and lemon balm are both similar to mint (and, if I'm not mistaken, come from the same family of plants).
What about eating the blossoms?
Sage
thanks again for your wonderfully insightful information. I have so much gratitude for all of the information you have given me over the last several months. The gardening bug has fully bitten me, and your help (along with others), has really made me already avoid some common mistakes, and, if you remember, to get my Antique rose to actually bloom this year....
I will be planting my new peppermint fairly soon, but, since I know it can choke some things out, I am going to make a patch specifically for this one. From what I hear, I have to make sure to actually plant mints away from other plants, because they can take on the flavour of some of the other plants, and while rose mint might taste good, I don't think I want it choking out my roses..
Obviously, I have a thing for all things minty, since rosemary and lemon balm are both similar to mint (and, if I'm not mistaken, come from the same family of plants).
What about eating the blossoms?
Sage
You are very welcome Sage.
Glad to know you have been well and truly bitten!
You do have to plant mint away from other mints as the flavours will muddle but it won't affect any other plants apart from choking them out. That is why it is always a good idea to plant them in a contained patch all by themselves. They put out runners under the ground like spaghetti which is why it is so difficult to get blooms in pots as they spiral round under the soil and choke themselves.
They do indeed all come from the same family (Labiatae/Lamiaceae) and the blossoms are edible although they do not tend to have as much flavour as the leaves. They are normally used more for decoration than anything else. Mint flowers look lovely sprinkled on the top of a Summer punch for instance or a sprig of flowering rosemary in a bottle of vinegar or oil that has been steeped with that herb. If you like the idea of eating flowers I saved this website a while ago.
https://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm
It may give you food!
....sorry...for thought.
Glad to know you have been well and truly bitten!
You do have to plant mint away from other mints as the flavours will muddle but it won't affect any other plants apart from choking them out. That is why it is always a good idea to plant them in a contained patch all by themselves. They put out runners under the ground like spaghetti which is why it is so difficult to get blooms in pots as they spiral round under the soil and choke themselves.
They do indeed all come from the same family (Labiatae/Lamiaceae) and the blossoms are edible although they do not tend to have as much flavour as the leaves. They are normally used more for decoration than anything else. Mint flowers look lovely sprinkled on the top of a Summer punch for instance or a sprig of flowering rosemary in a bottle of vinegar or oil that has been steeped with that herb. If you like the idea of eating flowers I saved this website a while ago.
https://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm
It may give you food!
....sorry...for thought.Oooh, I like you, you're (not quite, but just about) as "corny" as I am with puns... 
Great site link.
I will tell you what my big plan is here.
Recently, many of my friends have been suffering from variously sicknesses.... Mostly common colds and so on, and 2 friends with Cancer, one suffered a heart attck at the early age of 48... Before all of this happened, I already thought of doing a garden, but, now, even more so.
I have had a theory for a LONG time, that all the chemicles we put into our bodies (sprayed food product, processed food), and so on, are really killing us.
For the past several years, I have been eating about 20% of my food sources organic only.
On a visit to a friend of mine in Austin, I found out, he grows about 80% of what he eats during the summer months, and only eats chicken and fish for his protiens... I think of how healthy he is physically, he's 51 with the energy of a teenager. I'm 28 with the energy of an old man... LOL.
I furthered my thought process to include the fact that, certain things peak for eating at certain times of the year for a reason... If you believe in a grand design of any sort, it stands to reason that eating seasonally is probably part of that design, otherwise, everything would all grow all year round.
So, the plan is to try to, organically, grow a variety of food sources for each season, so that I can, gradually, decrease the amount of store bought foods...
The herbs are mainly for Teas, and kicking my cooking up a notch... There's deffinately a better taste in my cooking since using freshly grown herbs rather than dried store bought stuff.
LOL... Long not that really wasn't much of a question, just an explination of what I'm thinking and doing.
Thanks again for your helpful posts... They make my day.
Sage
Great site link.
I will tell you what my big plan is here.
Recently, many of my friends have been suffering from variously sicknesses.... Mostly common colds and so on, and 2 friends with Cancer, one suffered a heart attck at the early age of 48... Before all of this happened, I already thought of doing a garden, but, now, even more so.
I have had a theory for a LONG time, that all the chemicles we put into our bodies (sprayed food product, processed food), and so on, are really killing us.
For the past several years, I have been eating about 20% of my food sources organic only.
On a visit to a friend of mine in Austin, I found out, he grows about 80% of what he eats during the summer months, and only eats chicken and fish for his protiens... I think of how healthy he is physically, he's 51 with the energy of a teenager. I'm 28 with the energy of an old man... LOL.
I furthered my thought process to include the fact that, certain things peak for eating at certain times of the year for a reason... If you believe in a grand design of any sort, it stands to reason that eating seasonally is probably part of that design, otherwise, everything would all grow all year round.
So, the plan is to try to, organically, grow a variety of food sources for each season, so that I can, gradually, decrease the amount of store bought foods...
The herbs are mainly for Teas, and kicking my cooking up a notch... There's deffinately a better taste in my cooking since using freshly grown herbs rather than dried store bought stuff.
LOL... Long not that really wasn't much of a question, just an explination of what I'm thinking and doing.
Thanks again for your helpful posts... They make my day.
Sage
Thanks!sagedavis wrote:Oooh, I like you, you're (not quite, but just about) as "corny" as I am with puns... :-)Sage
I aim to please. I agree with your way of thinking. Its a funny thing but all the gardeny type people I know seem so healthy. I used to work for a woman who lived off her garden and only ate local organic meat. She was as sprightly as most 50 year olds and worked in her garden virtually everyday. She finally died, at the grand old age of 96, five years ago
I still miss her as she was a fountain of knowledge and taught me so much.I grow probably about 30/40 percent of what I eat the rest I try to source locally from organic suppliers or scrounge from the various gardens I work in. I also do a fair amount of foraging. It is amazing the amount of stuff you can eat from the wild. I hate the idea of transporting food half way round the world just so you can eat, say, strawberries out of season.
I think if more people tried to grow their own stuff rather than buying it from the Supermarkets we would also not have the terrible obesity problems that are affecting children as well as adults in this country . If you only had to go to the supermarket once a month rather than once a week all that junk food would be less available.
I will get off my soapbox now as when I start to think about supermarkets and the money grabbing, exploitative measures they use it raises my blood pressure and that would undo all the good of my healthy lifestyle!
Hahha, Soap Box.
I need to look into "organic meat". Problem is, around here, I am sure that's hard to find. I did find an organic farm in my town. They don't have a website... I might go see if they would let me build them one, since, web programming is my job. LOL
Yes, Yes, Yes, supermarkets, fast food, and lazyness, all contribute to the rising "blubber" problem. I have to tell you, I am about 30 lbs over weight..... I WAS 60 over. Most of the loss came from taking the time to cook with health in mind, rather than the quick and easy fast food, or pre-prepaired meals at supermarkets.
Loosing the first 15 lbs and the newer eating habits, gave me the energy to work out a little bit... 2 times a week for 1/2 hour, I go walk a treadmill or lift weights now. Of course, I am only lifting a small amount of weight, nothing heavy, but, just enough to add to my health.
After that though, is really when I started thinking about gardening for food, and how benificial it is, not just to my health, but, to the health of the world in general.
The more people start thinking about organic gardening at their own house, the easier it is going to be for the essential criters to also live, and help revive our planet.
I am not sure about global warming and all of that, but, I believe that it's a possibility, and any little thing that an individual can do, we should, just in case we wake up one day and find out that those "nuts" were right. It's just common sense, I say.
Now who's on a soap box. LOL.
In another light though... I am seeing a lot more "organic" labels at the supermarket. I would assume that they are, in fact, organic since food has to be aproved in the USA. This tells me that there really is a call to change in the general public.
Sage
I need to look into "organic meat". Problem is, around here, I am sure that's hard to find. I did find an organic farm in my town. They don't have a website... I might go see if they would let me build them one, since, web programming is my job. LOL
Yes, Yes, Yes, supermarkets, fast food, and lazyness, all contribute to the rising "blubber" problem. I have to tell you, I am about 30 lbs over weight..... I WAS 60 over. Most of the loss came from taking the time to cook with health in mind, rather than the quick and easy fast food, or pre-prepaired meals at supermarkets.
Loosing the first 15 lbs and the newer eating habits, gave me the energy to work out a little bit... 2 times a week for 1/2 hour, I go walk a treadmill or lift weights now. Of course, I am only lifting a small amount of weight, nothing heavy, but, just enough to add to my health.
After that though, is really when I started thinking about gardening for food, and how benificial it is, not just to my health, but, to the health of the world in general.
The more people start thinking about organic gardening at their own house, the easier it is going to be for the essential criters to also live, and help revive our planet.
I am not sure about global warming and all of that, but, I believe that it's a possibility, and any little thing that an individual can do, we should, just in case we wake up one day and find out that those "nuts" were right. It's just common sense, I say.
Now who's on a soap box. LOL.
In another light though... I am seeing a lot more "organic" labels at the supermarket. I would assume that they are, in fact, organic since food has to be aproved in the USA. This tells me that there really is a call to change in the general public.
Sage