Yet the lift they give food is only one of the varied pleasures herbs offer. Whether culinary herbs are used to flavor summer salads or dried for later use, they taset best if they are harvested in their prime. One practical way to make sure that tender young leaves or ripe seeds will not be overlooked is to locate the herbs in vegetable beds, where the crops may be planted and picked together. Another answer, which takes advantage of the plants' aromatic virtues, is to grow the herbs close to the kitchen door, where their perfumes act as a constant reminder to the cook. Months, even years, after herbs have been picked they go on giving pleasure in dried form.
Culinary kinds keep their flavor when they are packed in air-tight containers.
And herbs like lavender, which still smells sweet after drying, can perfume a room in the aromatic mixture of roots, leaves, and flowers called porpourri, or used in sachets and nosegays, or to scent bath water, candles, oils, or perfumes. Herbs as a group are relatively easy to grow. Begin your herb garden with the herbs you enjoy using the most. The optimum growing conditions vary with each individual herb species. Some of the herbs familiar to North Americans, such as lavender, rosemary, thyme, bay laurel, marjoram, dill, and oregano are native to the Mediterranean region.