I love basil. I use it for cooked and fresh dishes.

Lavender...I know, big surprise! :)

Basil, without a doubt.

"Cur moriatur homo cui Salvia crescit in horto?"

[Why should a man die while sage grows in his garden?]

FataMorgana

Basil!

Definitely basil.

Rosemary. Love it. Easy to root, its evergreen, love it for cooking. I have several that I started from just sticking a broken off cutting in potting soil.

Hmmm, so many to chose from. I've really enjoyed thyme recently for use in a variety of recipes. Honorable mentions go to rosemary, winter savory, Italian parsley and chives.

I have a special fondness for horehound, which to my surprise can sometimes winter over in zone 5 in a pot. It is good for bronchitis, and so bitter it has few enemies.

For culinary use, I find thyme and oregano the most handy, and for teas, I like pineapple sage and pineapple mint together, or lemon balm.

I love basil but can only grow it under glass in mid summer so I'd go for rosemary, sage, thyme and bay which are totally trouble free, hardy and which I use in large quantities all the year round.

flora - I have had great success growing basil with my tom/pepper/eggplant seedling under shop lights. I have 2 pots -6 inch, 4 plants - one genovese, one aromata. and have had several harvests from each and actually - I need to tell myself to plan a basil dish because there is too much! There is probably 3 dishes worth now to be harvested - but Ds isn't home and those are his favs so I am waiting!

Maybe a pot in a sunny window with some supplemental lighting would work for you.

Rosemary, no comparison--I agree with Perle above. Why? Aromatic, deer-proof, severe drought tolerance, evergreen (I harvest year-round, in all weather), gorgeously stunning, blue/lavender flowers from February into Spring, delicious on chicken... I could go on.

I am going to be different (big surprise lol). My favorite herb of all is Sweet Annie. I love the fragrance :). I am growing it from seed (Winter Sowing) for the first time and hopefully I'll have enough to share with my sister. From what I understand, if it grows for me, I'll have enough to share each year.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Thanks for the tips t-bird. But I am rather anti growing under lights. I don't like using electricity simply to grow a few plants. It is very unusual over here to grow under lights indoors in a domestic setting and also unnecessary given our climate. I raise my tomato and pepper plants in my glass porch in natural light in the spring but it is too cold for basil in the winter. I have already sown basil for this summer but it is not harvestable yet. It will stay in the porch even in the summer because we just don't get enough heat for it to really thrive outside. My home is very short on window sills and my climate is very short on sun in winter. So I'll just stick to enjoying basil in season. But I can have outdoor rosemary and bay 12 months of the year so there are compensations.

Rosemary, it smells good, pretty,great on lamb.
Then basil for smell & cooking.
Then Mint pretty & gives a salad a kick.

Basil makes me happy when I eat it, smell it, cut it, toss it in dishes that you wouldn't expect it in, and even just seeing it sprout. It's just such a happy, non-demanding plant for me. I even mulch other pots with clippings because it makes the air sweet while I work.

Have I gone beyond the bend on this? !!

I love my basil!! I want every kind! do you have a basil? I want that one too! I love using it with bruschetta, I love it in salads, layered on a sandwich instead of lettuce, I love munching on it when I'm in my garden, I love using it instead of spinach, wilted in a skillet in a buttery sauce. I had thousands of basil seedlings earlier this year! Then, because our winter was not so wintery, came the bugs, and the slugs, and the snails,... and my roommate's new 25 pound "puppy."
I have lost entire patches of basil. I hover protectively over the remainders when I am outside. I find myself pondering whether this seedling has been attacked again, or if it was eaten so much yesterday. Is that new digging spot a roaming cat, a gopher, or that blasted PUPPY!?
I am le sad :( *sigh*

srsly, dog, there's some greenbriar over there that you could try chewing on *chuckle*.

Basil to be certain. Even the best store-bought is never as fresh and always costs a small fortune for the pathetic amount you get. I grow about a dozen 5 gal. containers. My wife always chuckles when I call it "Project Basil" at the start of the season. She says it sounds like some sort of runway fashion show. Bring on those Thai and Genovese models!

Basil, without a doubt. I love so many types of basil. I love the way it tastes, the ea it looks. I have always loved the flavor, since I was young.

I love basil but I'll have to say rosemary since it survives my neglect!

If you asked my kiddo, she'd say stevia. I got one last year on a whim and she went bananas over her 'sweet leaf' and demanded we grow it again this year.

Rosemary, by far :)

I love the way it smells, the way it tastes (I use it in EVERYTHING), the way it looks, and how well it grows here.

Love me some rosemary :)

pineapple sage for it beautiful aroma
and
basils of all sorts

My favorite herbs:

Mint
Chive
Basil
Parlsy

Does garlic count? My life wouldn't be the same without garlic.

Fresh use - coriander, hands down.

Rosemary and thyme are up there because I use them (and some marjoram) to make roast potatoes. But I really don't use them for anything else, and I use coriander nearly every day.

Seeds - it's a tie between cardamom and cumin.