Deer and Rodent Resistant🦌🐇🐁
Attracts: Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other beneficial insects
Repels: Mosquitoes and flies

Note: Proper care keeps plants resilient and healthy, preventing diseases and pests. This list details the potential threats, specific diseases and pests vary depending on environmental climate.
Diseases:
◦ Crown Rot
◦ Basal Rot
◦ Downy mildew: A destructive disease that may become widespread if left uncontrolled.
◦ Gray mold: Causes wilted foliage on cankered stems.
◦ Fusarium wilt: A common disease caused by a seedborne fungus that causes partial or general wilting.
◦ Leaf Spot: A diseased or discolored area on a leaf caused by a plant disease or injury. Leaf spots may be caused by fungi, bacteria, or viruses, or by injuries from insects, nematodes, environmental factors, herbicides, or toxicity
◦ Powdery Mildew: Disease caused by a fungus due to overwatering or overcrowding, making the plant vulnerable to other pests.
◦ Root Rot: Affects the roots of plants growing in wet or damp soil, may be lethal to both indoor and outdoor plants.
Pests:
◦ Aphids: Small, soft-bodied sucking insects which pierce plant tissues and draw out the juices.
◦ Snails and Slugs: They eat a wide variety of plants, including young seedlings, mature plants, and turfgrasses, and may cause damage to gardens and flower beds. 
◦ Spider mites: They feed by bruising plant cells with their small, whiplike mouthparts and ingesting the sap. Spider mites produce a fine silk webbing, often found at leaf nodes or the undersides of leaves, which may kill plants or cause serious stress to them.
◦ Whiteflies: Flying insects that suck the sap from plants.

Holy Basil contains moderate levels of thujone, and should be used sparingly. Thujone is a chemical compound found in specific herbs and is toxic in high amounts. Pregnant, breastfeeding mothers, and young children should avoid consuming thujone. Consuming excessive thujone may cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, dizziness, seizures, damage to the liver and nervous system, coma, or death. Thujone toxicity is higher with concentrated forms like teas, extracts, and oils. Thujone consumed from common culinary use of these herbs now and then is considered safe for consumption.
High Thujone Content: Wormwood (do not eat) and Mugwort
Moderate Thujone Content: Holy Basil, Sage, and Yarrow
Low Thujone Content: Thai Basil, Sweet Basil, Thyme, and Oregano
Animal Toxicity: Safe for dogs, cats, and horses.
ASPCA Website, Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants “Basil”
Medicine Interactions:
Individuals may have a sensitivity or allergies to holy basil, consult a healthcare professional first and proceed at own risk.
◦ Anticoagulant and antiplatelet medicine (Blood thinners): Holy basil may slow blood clotting. Taking holy basil with medications intended to slow blood clotting may increase the risk of bruising and bleeding.
◦ Diabetes medication: Taking holy basil along with diabetes medications might cause blood sugar to drop too low. Monitor blood sugar closely.
◦ Pentobarbital (Nembutal): Pentobarbital causes drowsiness. Holy basil seed oil with pentobarbital might cause excessive drowsiness.
WebMD Website Holy Basil “Interactions”

❗Never ingest essential oils, instead use organic fresh or dried herbs.
Use: Holy basil is an adaptogen, a natural substance that helps the body adapt to stress and promote mental balance. Eaten raw or cooked, added to salads, used as a flavoring, or made into tea. Holy basil may act as a natural mouth freshener and disinfectant to cure mouth ulcers and protect teeth.
◦ Flowers: Mild flavor, not as pungent as leaves, may be used for potpourri, dried herbs, pickled, or garnishes. Mild medicinal properties.
◦ Leaves: Most medicinal part of the plant. Culinary uses are for sauces, marinades, stir-fry, soups, salads, dressings, flavored salt, flavored oil, and garnishes. Externally applied in the form of herbal oil, poultice, salve, cream, or therapeutic tea soak.
◦ Essential Oil: Click Here for Precautions, Instructions, and Dilution Ratios
Benefits: Antioxidant, antibacterial, antidisease, antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, prevents and fights infection, relieves swelling, colds (flu or influenza), fever, diabetes (high blood sugar or ‘hyperglycemia’), hypertension (reduces high blood pressure), lowers cholesterol, blood thinner (reduces blood clots), relieves indigestion, sinusitis, respiratory tract infection (bronchitis, chest congestion, pharyngitis, and whooping cough), asthma, arthritis, rheumatism, stress, headache, cough, diarrhea, dysentery, gastric ailments, flatulence (farting), and spasms. Occasional limited use may improve heart conditions (cardiovascular health).
Dosing: 1 teaspoon of dried herb or 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh herb every other day for adults, using irregularly for tea or to add flavor to meals. Use for 2 to 3 weeks, then stop use for 2 weeks prior to continuing use. 1 teaspoon of fresh holy basil contains a low amount of vitamin K, which supports blood health and bone strength.
Click Here for How To Harvest, Dry, and Properly Store Herbs and Seeds
Harvest: Never harvest more than 20% of a plant’s leaves or roots!
◦ Flowers: Harvest any time
◦ Leaves: Harvest any time, primarily Mid Spring to Late Summer
◦ Seeds: Harvest the dry, brown, crunchy flowers from Summer to Fall. Follow harvesting techniques in the link above to extract and properly store the seeds.

Note: The flowering stage may cause leaves to be more bitter. Drying the leaves slightly reduces flavor.
Aroma: Spicy, sweet herbaceous aroma with a hint of clove
Flavor: Mildly sweet basil with strong notes of peppery mint and clove
Culinary Combinations: Holy basil compliments herbs and spices (thyme, rosemary, mint, oregano, cilantro, parsley, cinnamon, nutmeg, sage, rose, chamomile, goldenseal, hibiscus, lavender, cardamom, coriander, tarragon, chives, turmeric, and ginger), quinoa, whole wheat enriched pasta, wild rice, beans (sugar snap peas, green beans, chickpeas [garbanzos], black, pinto), legumes (lentils, mung beans), tofu, tempeh, mushrooms, nuts (roasted cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans, and pine nuts), vegetables (arugula, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Winter squash [pumpkin, butternut squash, acorn squash], Summer squash [zucchini, straightneck, and crookneck], sweet potato, red potato, white potato, eggplant, zucchini, garlic, lemongrass, bell pepper, carrot, beet, asparagus, brussels sprouts, radish, tomato, and cucumber), and fruits (avocado, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, apricot, mango, and citrus [lemon and lime], figs)
Click Here to explore a comprehensive list of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients with function explanations, deficiency or excess symptoms, and vegan food source rankings (high, medium, low)

Holy basil has been used in India for around 5,000 years and is a central part of many herbal traditions. It is native to the eastern world tropics and is thought to have originated in north central India. Caring for a holy basil plant is believed to bring happiness and prosperity, and to serve as a reminder of the connection between the spiritual and earthly realms. 

1 year to 4+ years longevity for life expectancy.