Lovage

[Tarragon2017]

The ants tend to love my lovage is this common

Also I would like to make a lovage and potato soup but will require most of the leaves, will this destroy the plant ?

[veggiechicken]

Tarragon, I've moved your Herb threads to The Herb Bed
where you will find more threads about these herbs.

[veggiechicken]

Either your Lovage plant is very small or you are incredibly fond of it, if you're going to use most of the leaves in a soup. Mine is 5-6' tall!
If you strip the plant of most of its leaves it may not recover. Its a risk so depends on how much you want it to grow back next year.

[Jay-ell]

Is it Lovage or Scots lovage? How old is it and how big is It?

[Tarragon2017]

Its lovage and kinda small

[Tarragon2017]

So whats the correct amount of leaves to leave to keep the plant replenishing those that have been taken , should you remove only the elaves or stalks 2

Thanks

[Jay-ell]

As a rule of thumb you should only take a maximum of one third of the leaves from any herb then give it time to recover. Of course YMMV

[veggiechicken]

Don't take more than a quarter if you want it to keep growing and come back next year. Have a look at this and see why its not a suitable pot plant!

https://youtu.be/GiURVYDEIXE

[Jay-ell]

Great video VC. In the past I had Lovage growing in a shady garden where it thrived and was hug. Like the idea of celery flavoured straws, you can do the same with Sweet Cicely for aniseed flavoured ones.