Sweet Basil Live Plant Cutting

Ocimum basilicum

Add a classic and versatile culinary herb to your garden with Sweet Basil.

Sweet Basil is appreciated for its aromatic foliage, tender leaves, and wide range of culinary uses. It is commonly used in pesto, pasta dishes, pizza toppings, salads, sauces, fresh garnishes, and herb vinegars.

Its upright, bushy growth makes it suitable for kitchen gardens, raised beds, patio planters, and containers. When allowed to flower, Sweet Basil may also attract visiting pollinators.

Each cutting is freshly harvested from plants grown at our Blue Ridge Mountain homestead and carefully prepared for shipment.

What You Will Receive

• One fresh, unrooted Sweet Basil cutting

• Approximately 6–8 inches long

• One rockwool rooting cube

• Moisture-protective packaging for transit

• Basic care and propagation instructions

This listing is for an unrooted plant cutting—not an established, rooted plant.

Because each cutting is naturally grown and individually harvested, its size, branching, leaf shape, color, fragrance, and overall appearance may vary from the listing photographs.

Why Gardeners Love Sweet Basil

• Aromatic culinary foliage

• Versatile kitchen uses

• Upright and bushy growth

• Suitable for containers and garden beds

• Responds well to regular harvesting

• Appropriate for gardeners with different experience levels

• Flowers may attract visiting pollinators

Fragrance, flavor, productivity, and growth can vary according to season, maturity, temperature, sunlight, soil, and other growing conditions. A particular flavor, aroma intensity, or harvest amount cannot be guaranteed.

Growing Information

Botanical Name: Ocimum basilicum

Common Name: Sweet Basil

Plant Type: Frost-sensitive annual herb

Light Requirements: Full sun

Water Requirements: Prefers consistently moist, well-draining soil after rooting

Growth Habit: Upright and bushy

Suitable for Containers: Yes

Pollinator Friendly: Flowers may attract visiting pollinators

Sweet Basil prefers warm growing conditions and is sensitive to frost and freezing temperatures.

Regular harvesting or pinching may encourage branching and fuller growth. Removing flower spikes can encourage continued leaf production, while allowing some flowers to remain can provide forage for visiting pollinators.

Garden performance, mature size, productivity, flowering, and longevity depend on the purchaser’s climate, soil, planting location, and ongoing care.

Popular Uses

• Pesto

• Pasta dishes

• Pizza toppings

• Salads

• Sauces

• Fresh garnishes

• Herb vinegars

• Container gardening

Wash fresh plant material thoroughly before culinary use. This product is sold as live plant material and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Important: Care Immediately After Delivery

Please unpack your cutting immediately after delivery and remove all shipping materials.

Place the lower portion of the stem in clean, room-temperature water for a minimum of 48 hours. Keep all leaves above the waterline, with only the lower stem and at least one propagation node in the water.

This recovery period allows the cutting to rehydrate and recover from normal shipping stress before rooting begins.

During the recovery period:

• Keep the cutting in bright, indirect light

• Keep it away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures

• Replace the water if it becomes cloudy

• Do not add fertilizer

• Do not allow any leaves to remain submerged

Temporary wilting or softness can occur after shipping and does not necessarily indicate that the cutting is damaged.

Rooting Your Cutting

After the initial 48-hour recovery period, continue rooting the cutting using one of these methods:

• Keep the lower stem and propagation node in clean water

• Place the lower stem and propagation node into the included pre-soaked rockwool cube supplied with water

Keep all leaves above the waterline and do not allow the rockwool cube to dry out. Provide bright, indirect light while roots develop.

Do not transfer the cutting into soil immediately after delivery.

Allow the cutting to remain in water or water-supplied rockwool until several healthy roots have developed and the roots are at least two inches long. Once the roots reach that length, the cutting may be transplanted into an appropriate potting mix.

Rooting time varies according to temperature, light, water quality, and other growing conditions.

Learn More Before You Buy

Visit The Robertson Rottie Ranch on YouTube and follow our Mountain Apothecary series for:

• Herb profiles

• Propagation and rooting techniques

• Harvesting guides

• Culinary herb gardening

• Herb drying and storage

• Homestead gardening

• Garden planning and maintenance

Important Information About Live Cuttings

This product is a living, unrooted plant cutting. Successful rooting and future plant growth depend on shipping conditions, temperature, handling, propagation method, moisture, light, climate, and ongoing care.

We carefully select and package each cutting, but rooting success, productivity, flowering, longevity, and future plant performance cannot be guaranteed.

If The Robertson Rottie Ranch makes an error with your order or is unable to fulfill it, we will address the issue in accordance with our Return & Refund Policy.

Shipping

Live plant orders are generally processed within 1–5 business days and normally ship Monday through Wednesday to reduce the likelihood of weekend carrier delays.

Your cutting will be wrapped with moisture-protective materials and carefully packaged for transit. Tracking information will be provided when your order ships.

Live cuttings are available for purchase only when we are actively accepting and fulfilling plant orders. If seasonal temperatures or severe weather require us to pause live-plant shipping, this listing will be marked unavailable until ordering resumes.

Customers are responsible for confirming that this plant can legally be shipped to and grown at their destination.

From Our Homestead to Yours

This cutting is grown and freshly harvested by Mountain Moon Apothecary, the botanical and herb-growing line of The Robertson Rottie Ranch, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Thank you for supporting our small mountain homestead.