Society garlic

An Old World cottage-garden annual grown for daisy- to chrysanthemum-like flowerheads (3 to 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 low, drought-loving Mediterranean herb grown for its woolly silver-grey rosettes of soft, felted leaves and its stiff summer spikes of small, soft-yellow flowers cupped in densely woolly bracts - the plant known as Greek mountain tea or ironwort. It is a tough alpine and rock-garden subject that wants hot, dry, very sharply drained ground and full sun, and rots in wet or rich soil; it is only borderline hardy. POWO (Kew) records Sideritis syriaca as native to the eastern Mediterranean - Crete, the Levant, and Türkiye. The dried leaves and flower spikes make the traditional caffeine-free Greek herbal infusion long valued as a folk remedy for colds and coughs, so it is parts-edible as a tea but is grown as a herb rather than a food crop. The soft-yellow summer spikes are a good bee plant.

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 12 to 24 inches 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 to 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.

A tender perennial herb in the aster family (Asteraceae), grown for its remarkably sweet leaves - per the Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder the foliage contains glucoside compounds and tastes notably sweeter than sugar with no calories, which is why it is also called sweetleaf. Native to Brazil and Paraguay, it forms weak, floppy stems to 12 to 24 inches tall clothed in oblong, toothed leaves, with small showy white flowers in July and August. Winter hardy only in USDA zones 10-11; across most of North America it is grown as an annual or overwintered indoors, and leaves are best harvested before flowering.

The true catnip: a bushy, aromatic, grey-green herbaceous perennial herb with toothed, downy, mint-like leaves and summer spikes of small white, purple-spotted flowers. POWO (Kew) gives its native range as across Europe and Asia, and it has naturalised worldwide. Its leaves carry nepetalactone, a powerful euphoric attractant for cats - roughly two-thirds of cats respond by rolling, rubbing, and chewing - so expect neighbourhood cats to flatten it; the same compound has documented repellent activity against mosquitoes and some insect pests. It is a tough, drought-tolerant, easy herb that self-seeds and can spread and flop, so cut it back hard after flowering for a fresh, tidier flush. It is hardy across USDA zones 3a-9b. RHS lists Nepeta cataria as a hardy aromatic herb for bees and culinary/herbal use and rates it fully hardy (H7). It is a traditional human herb too - catnip tea is a mild, calming infusion and the young leaves have culinary use - and a good bee and pollinator plant. Note this is the species catnip (Nepeta cataria), distinct from the sterile ornamental catmint hybrid Nepeta x faassenii.