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Chives
Pretty, compact and simple to grow — that’s chives (Allium schoenoprasum). And that’s before mentioning its culinary prowess.
This perennial, hardy in USDA Plant Hardness Zones 3 through 10, grows in clumps 12 to 18 inches tall. It features one-inch-wide purplish pink pom-pom flowers, which are used fresh in salads and dried in decorative wreaths.
The slender, hollow leaves have a mild onion flavor to enhance salads, soups, sauces, chili and other foods. A close relative, garlic chives (A. tuberosum) has white flowers and flat, solid leaves with a mild garlic flavor.
Sow seeds indoors six to eight weeks before setting out in the garden in full sun or part shade. Or you can plant in the garden a few weeks before the last average frost date.
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Cilantro
Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is what’s called a double threat in the sports world. Number one, cilantro leaves add a pungent tang to salads and Asian and Mexican dishes. (Harvest from the bottom of the plant for the most pungency.) Number two, cilantro flowers produce seeds (known as coriander) to flavor stew, sausage, veal and pork. That’s why it’s one of our favorite herbs to plant in spring.
It grows five to 24 inches tall, four to 10 inches wide. As an herb that likes cool weather, it’s a natural to sow directly in place in early spring. If you allow cilantro to go to seed, it will self-seed in subsequent years. Give it full sun.
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Dill
Dill (Anethum graveolens) is so attractive it can easily find a spot in the ornamental garden, yet it’s so useful to people and insects. Growing one to three feet tall and six to 24 inches wide, this lanky annual boasts frilly, fernlike leaves topped by flattened clusters of yellow flowers in summer. The seeds and leaves have a sharp, slightly bitter taste.
Dried or fresh leaves are used to flavor everything from potato salad, soups and omelets to fish, meat and poultry. But a real bonus is that dill foliage serves as an important food source for beneficial insects such as lacewings (which eat aphids) and swallowtail butterflies. Dill grows best in full sun.
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