Plant library
Herb growing guides
Herbs reward regular cutting, and most tolerate containers and part sun better than vegetables do. These pages cover planting, watering, harvest technique, and the habits that matter, like mint's spreading roots and basil's urge to flower.
Herb
Basil
A simple basil guide covering warmth, pinching, watering, and repeated harvests.
Herb
Parsley
A slow-starting biennial herb grown as an annual, with leaves ready about three months after sowing.
Herb
Chives
A hardy perennial onion herb that returns each spring and asks for little beyond occasional dividing.
Herb
Cilantro
A fast cool-season herb for fresh leaves, best grown in short repeated sowings before it bolts.
Herb
Dill
A feathery annual herb grown for fresh fronds, flower heads, and pickling seed.
Herb
Oregano
A hardy perennial herb for sunny beds and containers, with stronger flavor in lean soil.
Herb
Thyme
A low, woody perennial herb for hot, dry, well-drained spots and the sunny edges of beds.
Herb
Rosemary
Rosemary planting, drainage, watering, and overwintering guidance for home gardens, including how to carry plants through winter in cold climates.
Herb
Sage
Sage planting, drainage, pruning, and harvest guidance for home gardens, including why wet winters kill more plants than cold.
Herb
Mint
Mint planting, containment, watering, and harvest guidance for home gardens, with the container rules that keep it from spreading.
Herb
Fennel
A tall, anise-flavored herb grown for fronds and seed, or as a bulb vegetable under another planting schedule.
Herb
Tarragon
A cool perennial herb prized in French cooking; buy plants, since true tarragon rarely comes true from seed.
Herb
Lemon balm
A lemon-scented mint-family perennial for tea and pollinators, nearly indestructible once planted.
Herb
Marjoram
A tender perennial grown as an annual, sweeter and milder than its close cousin oregano.
Herb
Lovage
A towering hardy perennial with a concentrated celery flavor in its leaves, stems, and seeds.
Herb
Chamomile
A cool-season annual whose small daisy flowers dry into the classic tea herb.
Herb
Lemon verbena
A tender shrub with intensely lemon-scented leaves, grown in containers where winters freeze.
Herb
Sorrel
A hardy perennial with lemony leaves, among the first greens ready in early spring.
Herb
Borage
A fast annual herb with cucumber-flavored blue star flowers that bees work constantly.
Herb
Summer savory
A slender annual herb with a peppery bite, the traditional partner for beans.
Herb
Catnip
A hardy mint-family perennial grown for cats, tea, and clouds of small pollinator blooms.
Herb
Lemongrass
A tropical grass grown for lemon-scented stalks, treated as an annual or container plant in cold climates.
Herb
Garlic chives
A hardy perennial with flat, garlic-flavored leaves and white late-summer flowers bees love.
Herb
Bay laurel
A slow evergreen tree that supplies bay leaves for years, best grown in a container in cold climates.
Herb
Anise hyssop
A hardy mint relative with licorice-scented leaves and purple spikes that pollinators mob all summer.
Herb
Hyssop
Hyssop planting, spacing, pruning, and harvest guidance for home gardens, plus how to tell it apart from anise hyssop.
Herb
Comfrey
Comfrey planting, propagation, and cutting guidance for home gardens, including the sterile cultivar that keeps it from spreading.