Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Alexandra BIDDLE
Alexandra Basinski, had green thumb
By JOHN F. MORRISON
Philadelphia Daily News
morrisj@@phillynews.com 215-854-5573
PEOPLE LIKE Alexandra Biddle Basinski are known as "herbies."
That means, simply, that they grow herbs. In Alexandra's case, she not only grew herbs, but used them in recipes and taught and wrote about them.
She would walk outside her Jenkintown home and snip herbs from her garden, tossing dill, fennel, Mexican tarragon, parsley, basil, lemon verbena and pineapple sage into her salads to add bright notes of garden flavor.
And passing on this enthusiasm for fresh ingredients that most people can grow at home was her great pleasure and satisfaction.
Alexandra, a member of Philadelphia's prominent Biddle family and a devotee of the arts, history and culture of the Philadelphia region, died Thursday of complications of a stroke-related accident last January. She was 59.
She had endured a long series of surgeries and rehabilitation efforts, but her body finally wore down, her family said.
Alexandra worked in the Philadelphia Green program of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society helping community leaders in North and West Philadelphia transform vacant lots and brown fields into gardens "blooming with hope."
She was the exhibit coordinator for Philadelphia Green's first entry in the Philadelphia Flower Show, which won the society's Award of Merit.
She also volunteered for other jobs at the Flower Show over many years. She was a frequent participant in the society's Harvest Show each autumn, winning many ribbons for her entries, especially her herb vinegars.
She wrote a regular column called "Savoring Herbs" for The Green Scene, the society's monthly magazine.
"Bimmy," as her oldest friends called her, became a passionate gardener as a child on her family's Newtown Square farm.
She attended the Shipley School, Marple-Newtown High School and the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her husband, John Basinski.
They were married in March, 1971, at Old St. Peter's Church, followed by a reception in a backyard tent at her uncle's home in Society Hill.
She also was a graduate of the Barnes Arboretum and Longwood Gardens certificate programs.
Despite her upbringing as a Biddle, she was a "free-spirited, but elegant and kind 'neighborhood' girl, living in West Philadelphia as a newlywed and in Manayunk in the '70s and '80s before it became chic," her family said.
Alexandra was known for her herb vinegars. In 1986, then-Inquirer food writer Jim Quinn wrote of sampling her product at one of the Horticultural Society's Harvest Shows.
"Just taste this," Quinn quoted a judge as telling him. "Don't worry that you've never tried vinegar by itself before. This is so mild and good you can almost drink it down like wine."
"And it was," Quinn wrote.
She taught about ground covers at the University of Pennsylvania's Morris Arboretum. She preferred woolly lamb's ears for sunny locations and also liked lemon thyme. "The smell of the foliage is wonderful," she said.
She also taught at Longwood Gardens, and taught cooking and gardening at Main Line Night School, Cheltenham Adult School and the Mount Airy Learning Tree. She taught a cooking class called "The Thrill of the Grill,"
Bimmy's meals were renowned among friends, relatives and neighbors. Her annual holiday party in December "meant a hearty and delicious culinary adventure, anxiously awaited by her guests every year," her family said.
Besides her husband, she is survived by her stepmother Flora Biddle.
Services: A gathering in her memory will be held Sept. 20 at Morris Arboretum, where a weeping beech tree will be dedicated to her. *
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