Usually in the spring, after all danger of frost has passed and until the first frost prediction in the fall, Tulasi gets a vacation outside.
She doesn't like indoors very much. Especially the way our house is situated, it does not get a lot of sunlight. It was designed that way because we live in a very hot climate, and it helps to keep the house cooler. But it is not very satisfactory for Tulasi Devi during the cold winter months when she must come inside.
So for the past few years I was putting some Tulasis in the ground and growing new ones from seed. That's when I noticed how huge she would get! Whenever she was out of her pot, she'd grow into giant bushes, noticeable to anyone who came by.
The only problem was her manjaris became too difficult to manage, and soon I had wild Tulasis growing all around the garden area and lawn. I was told this is an offense to Tulsi because she may get stepped on or something mow her down or they'll all die in the winter.
I had been experimenting having the original Tulasi plantings in the ground close to the house, hoping she would survive the winters because the concrete house foundation warmed up during the day creates a microclimate in the winter. That's how our curry plants have survived all these past winters. But unfortunately, not Tulsi devi. Apparently she is extra extra sensitive to cold.
So finally I got the bright idea, when I saw that Tulasi (pictured on the left) was getting pretty big while in the ground since spring, why not put her back in a pot before she gets too big to carry around the house during the cold season? She had a nice vacation and this move will spare her life (and with all those new leaves and growth, maybe she will have a easier time during the sparser sunlight in winter).
In this photo, you can really see the difference between the two Tulasis! They both were the same size in the springtime. The one on the left went into the ground then, and the one on the right remained in her pot. Now I look forward to transplanting Tulasi on the right into the ground soon for a new improved vacation, so she can get a little start on better growth before the winter comes and be happy.
Her happiness is really what this is all about.
UPDATE: Tulasi Devi, the one pictured on the right in the first photo above, had a shorter vacation than the others, but it still did her a lot of good! Here's a photo how she looks now after about 4 weeks in the ground and put back in the same sized pot:
