Basil is a great beginner-friendly plant because of its easy maintenance.
Basil, used for its potent leaves, is a widely used herb largely known for its presence in Italian dishes like homemade pizza, Caprese salads, hummus, and pestos.
There are two main varieties of chamomile: English (aka Roman) and German chamomile.
Chamomile is a great plant for those who either aren’t used to growing plants or forget about them easily, because they are easy to grow and need very little care.
Cilantro and coriander come from the same plant, coriandrum sativum, and are often used interchangeably in dishes.
The cilantro plant is used and known for its two parts: the leaves (known as cilantro) and the seeds (known as coriander).
Dill is a delicate-leaved herb, most used in pickling and fish recipes.
Dill is easy to start, as there is no stress of transplanting or figuring out how to start the seeds indoors.
Lavender is classified as an herb, and its beautiful appearance and aroma is typically used ornamentally, for its smell, or as an essential oil
Lavender, a perennial plant, tends to prefer a milder climate with lots of sun and well-drained soil
Mint is a widely-used flavour for foods, gum and even toothpaste. It’s quite simple to grow and gives off a beautiful aroma.
Mint is fairly easy to plant and to maintain, with the biggest cause for attention being its tendency to take over and invade the space of other plants.
Parsley is particularly popular in Middle Eastern dishes (like tabbouleh) and is frequently used as a garnish to bring colour to various dishes, especially soups.
Be careful when picking out a plant, as parsley and cilantro are often confused based on their looks, but exhibit widely different tastes
Rosemary is a shrub used for its pine-like needles and is well known for its culinary and aromatic uses.
As a drought-tolerant shrub, rosemary requires very little attention. It is also a perennial, and can live up to 10 years, growing slowly every year
There are many different varieties of sage, although some are not known for their culinary purposes but rather their medicinal or ornamental use.
Sage is a great plant to grow for those who live in warmer climates or who are self-proclaimed “brown-thumbed” as it is a drought-hardy plant
Thyme is a beautiful herb with diverse uses, from ground covers to teas. It is tolerant to a little rough-handling, hence why it is sometimes used in substitution for grassy lawns.
Thyme grows in two ways: upright or creeping. The creeping varieties are better used for ground covers as their small leaves may be tedious to cultivate for culinary purposes
There are three different types of celery that allow you to use different parts to get that bitter, celery flavour.
Celery is one of the trickier plants to grow; it’s pickier about its climate and takes a while to mature. Most home growers take on celery purely for the challenge of growing it
Chives are a fun plant, growing several leaves and flowering in may to June. Both its flowers and “leaves” can be used in countless dishes as it is primarily used as a garnish.
After a chive plant has been established, no real care is needed for this independent plant. As a perennial, it comes back year after year, producing many stems for you to harvest and use.