Herbs & Culinary Species

Summer heat in Zone 10-11 turns Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) into a fast, leafy workhorse, but only if you keep up with pruning, water, and nutrients. Here is what it takes to grow armfuls of usable leaves instead of one sad, leggy plant.

Leaves that stay green through winter and keep flavor for years in the pantry are what make Bay Laurel such a workhorse herb. It pulls double duty as a handsome evergreen shrub or small tree and a steady source of fragrant leaves for the kitchen.

Most gardeners treat chives like disposable garnish, then rip them out when they flop. Grown as a true perennial clump in Zone 4-10 beds or containers, they become a tidy, low‑care herb that returns bigger each spring and feeds pollinators too.