An Old World cottage-garden annual grown for daisy- to chrysanthemum-like flowerheads (3-4 inches across) in bright yellow through deep orange, often with a contrasting darker center disk. In cool climates it blooms over a long summer-to-fall window; in hot summers it tends to languish and may need a midseason cutback to rebloom. The somewhat bitter flowers and lance-shaped aromatic leaves are edible, and the petals lend color to soups, rice, and baked goods.

A low woody herb for sunny edges, between pavers, and herb-garden borders with pollinator-friendly summer flowers.

A fast, bushy annual culinary herb in the mint family (Lamiaceae), native from southeastern Europe to western Asia. NC State Extension describes an erect, multi-stemmed plant about 1.5 feet tall and 1-3 feet wide, with linear, gland-dotted, aromatic dark-green leaves and small lilac, pink, or white summer flowers. It grows rapidly — harvestable within a couple of months of sowing — and is prized for its mild, slightly peppery flavor. Grown as a warm-season annual, it wants full sun and sharp drainage and does poorly in damp soil or shade.

French tarragon is the culinary clone of Artemisia dracunculus, grown for the pungent anise-like flavor and aroma of its narrow, glossy green leaves — the defining herb of béarnaise sauce and classic French fines herbes. It is a shrubby, rhizome-spreading perennial that rarely flowers and sets effectively sterile seed, so it is propagated only by cuttings or division rather than from seed. Unlike its wild parent species and the inferior Russian tarragon, this 'Sativa' selection holds the true tarragon flavor.

The cultivated strawberry of grocery shelves and home gardens — a low, stoloniferous herbaceous perennial of hybrid origin (a cross of the South American Fragaria chiloensis and the North American F. virginiana). Dense mounding rosettes of toothed, three-parted leaves carry loose clusters of five-petaled white flowers in spring, which ripen into the familiar cone-shaped red aggregate fruits studded with seed-like achenes. Plants run on above-ground stolons that root at the nodes to form new plantlets, so a single planting knits into a patch.

A fast, fine-textured cool-season culinary annual in the carrot family (Apiaceae), native to the Middle East, Russia, and the Caucasus and now grown worldwide. NC State Extension describes an erect, spreading plant about 1-2 feet tall with light green, feathery, finely divided (tripinnate) leaves — like a more delicate parsley — and a mild aniseed scent. Small white five-petaled flowers open in saucer-shaped umbels 1-2 inches across in spring and summer. It is generally grown as an annual (occasionally biennial in milder areas), prefers cool weather in moist, well-drained soil, and is a classic component of French fines herbes, prized for a delicate flavor best used fresh.