Rosemary

 If you live in our mild West Coast climate, rosemary is practically a weed.  Just buy a plant and stick it in the ground and you’ll have it forever.  In fact, it takes temperatures below about -20F to kill it.  Look for the upright form of rosemary, not the trailing groundcover variety.  The favorites among chefs are ‘Barbeque‘ or  ‘Tuscan Blue’, with wide, aromatic leaves, ‘Roman Beauty’, a compact variety bred to have higher essential oil content (also sold as ‘Chef’s Choice’), and ‘Arp’, which is the most cold-hardy of the bunch.  If you’re really crazy about rosemary, ‘Spice Island’ was once grown for commercial production and reaches six feet tall. The plant needs practically no care—just give it full sun, minimal water, and clip it to whatever shape you please.  Rosemary and watermelon are surprisingly good together in tequila-based drinks.