and parsley. (Parsley is a big butterfly favorite and they eat a lot of it. Plant more than you need.) I also grow creeping thyme. It does not really count as an herb but whenever I get a sprouting onion or garlic clove it goes in the ground instead of in the trash, then I use the greens off of the top of it for cooking. Much better than picking through slimed-out green onions in the crisper!
I have grown pineapple sage too, and lots of mints. Mint grows fast and sucks all the nutrients out of the soil, then it looks bad. I keep mine in containers and whenever someone wants some I chop a hunk of the roots out and put soil in the spot. I topdress a lot with mulch.
I have grown lavender; when it gets leggy I repot it (deeper than before!) Someone gave me a nice 'tree' lavender; when it got leggy they tied it to a stake and made a nice standard of it! I'll have to try that too. If you plant lavender deeper it just keeps right on growing.
I have given a lot of rosemary away; whenever I have a spare stick I Rootone it and jam it in a pot. Often they root.
I am aiming at an edible garden, but so far the Bull Terriers have gotten more of it than me.

I have had good success with the plain society garlic (tubalghia) and majoram. They have returned since planted 5 years ago and multiplied nicely in average soil with mostly sun. The variegated society garlic did not do well. I grow common sage also in the ground but in a raised bed with very good drainage. They grow well in pots also. I also grow mint very easily but it spreads everywhere (better in a pot). The pineapple and chocolate mints need good drainage and are not as agressive as the regular species. Common thyme and lemon thyme grow well in pots and are perennial. They return in the ground if in a raised bed with very good drainage. I have had the tricolor sage and rosemary rot on me over and over. I grow variegated cuban oregano (plectranthus) in a pot also because it is not hardy here. Basil which is an annual is very easy to grow here from seed also in the spring. I like the purple ruffles and dark opal but the green kinds do just as well. I planted several under a kumquat tree in a big pot and each are eighteen feet tall and wide.

Lisa, 18 feet???

You are right typo eighteen inches

I've grown a lot of herbs here in Baton Rouge with varying degrees of success. Most of the Mediterranean herbs are short-lived since they hate the humidity in the summer. The thymes tend to rot out within a few months for me. Most lavenders don't hang around for long, but I've kept Lavandula heterophylla for a few years before I killed it by moving it. Sage will thrive through the winter but it departs this earth as soon as summer comes. Most of the rosemaries I've planted have been happy, though, and true bay, Laurus nobilis, is easy to grow and gets quite large.

Biennials such as parsley perform like hardy annuals, seeded in late summer and growing over winter, then blooming and gone in the following spring. I've had real success with dill, chervil, parsley, and cilantro, growing them this way.

Mints are easy, like a bit of shade, and need to be confined, as others have commented.

Easy perennials for me are chives, garlic chives, lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon verbena, pineapple sage, purple coneflower (Echinacea), catmint (Nepeta fasenii), oregano and sweet marjoram, and ginger.

There are lots of others that will do well here, but I'm mainly interested in ornamentals and culinary herbs. I'm told vetiver is easy and there are other potpourri herbs that love it here. I've grown dwarf myrtle and germander, though I don't have either right now.

The category "herbs" covers a lot of ground, from edibles to dye plants to medicinals to fragrance plants. It's fun to experiment with them.

I'm in the Baton Rouge 'burbs and enjoy my herbs.

The plants that seem to be the happiest: rosemary, bay, tansy, Spanish tarragon, salad burnet, chives, Greek oregano, dill, mints and basil.

I've grown these with medium success: various thymes, Italian oregano, marjoram, cilantro and fennel.

Have killed parsley, some thymes, lavender, and some other herbs that apparently don't like our heat.

Drasaid, do you think I should try parsley in a pot? I want it badly and have killed it each time I've planted it, I'm wondering if it gets too much water?

redbirds,
Parsley is a biennial and it hates to be moved. It does very well planted from seed and grown over the winter. In the spring it blooms, makes seed, and dies (i.e., bolts to seed). That's perfectly normal for parsley. I often see it offered as small plants in spring. These will be short-lived partly because they hate to be moved into the garden bed and will tend to bolt on that account alone, and partly because as soon as the weather warms, they will in any case bolt. They are not perennial and they don't like the heat; grow them over winter.

I wont to thank everyone for ther input it was most helpful.But there is one more thing will BASIL over winter inside.Thanks JIM

I don't know, but it is very easy to grow from seed sown in the spring.

Thanks so much, Summerrain, for the parsley advice. I will definitely try that!

I'm pretty sure basil is an annual. I guess I'll never find out because I love to pick it all at the end of the season and make pesto.

I've found thyme must be in the shade in the summer here to survive (climate much like ya'lls--ok I'm forum lurking!). Parsley is best in winter. Rosemary needs alot of "breathing" space (in a pot--away from other things) in the summer here. Basil will turn up its nose at a mere 40 degree cold snap around here.

I grow lots of herbs here. Mostly they get morning sun afternoon shade. I have chocolate mint, peppermint, pineapple sage, lemon variegated thyme, regular thyme, basils, oregano, parsley, cilantro (for mexican fish tacos yum), rosemary, anise, dill. I always try to grow catnip but the cats will come and pull it up by the roots every night lol . I replant it and the next day it is out of the ground again grrr! The funny thing is the catnip doesn't die.. I wish I could grow lavender, I have heard it doesn't do well here but I have some seeds so maybe I'll try anyhow.

West of Baton Rouge, we grow mother-of-thyme, lemon thyme, Greek oregano, rosemary, basil, lemon basil, chives, mint, lemon balm, parsley, and celantro. Parsley and celantro are planted in the fall. Oregano and rosemary enjoy full sun. All the rest like some relief from the afternoon sun. Chives seem to like more p.m. shade than others. Mint grows in an out-of-the way place and is allowed to creep into the lawn for good scent when mowing. They all like well draining soil. We have given up on planting anything in our native soil. Where we plant, we remove the grass, scratch the soil with the tiller, then lay down at 8 to 10 inches of garden soil (delivered from the landscape company) and scratch in some compost.

Last fall I dug up a basil plant, it over wintered indoors and was planted in the garden in spring. It was much effort to keep it going through winter. I usually harvest in the fall and make enough basic pesto for the freezer to last the winter.

Can you plant herb seeds this time of year will they do ok.Thanks Jim

Jim, what zone are you in?

I'm in 8b and today I seeded some dill & arugula. Also transplanted parsley, thyme, and salad burnet.

All I know is zone 8 I live just north of Vicksburg.I have had litte luck with seed this year only basil did good can't seem to get anything else to grow from seed maybe it is too hot so I thougt maybe in fall it would do better but I don't know if it would be a waist of time.thanks Jim