Few things are more rewarding than growing and cooking with your very own homegrown herbs! And now is the time to be thinking and planning for this. Below are 15 types of herbs along with suggested varieties and tips to help you get started on growing your very own easy and delicious kitchen garden! (This information comes from Master Gardener, Tanya, over at Sun River Gardens, my favorite local garden nursery.)

1. Sage: Sage's soft gray-green leaves make a fantastic contrast in the garden. Its musky, earthy leaves are staples in poultry stuffing, Italian meat dishes, and salads. Best garden varieties: 'Berrgarten', 'Purple', 'Tri-Color', 'Golden'

2. Thyme: Heavily scented leaves are used to season fish, shellfish, poultry stuffing, soups, or vegetables. The different varieties will have either white or lavender colored flowers that will appear in late spring to early summer. Best garden varieties: 'French', 'English', 'Lemon', 'Coconut', 'Lime'

3. Basil: Basil should not be grown in moderation. Plant ruffled purple varieties to use as a garnish, large leaf varieties for pesto, Thai basil for stir-fries and spring rolls, and lime and lemon basils for summer cocktails. Best garden varieties: 'Genovese', 'Dolce Vita Blend', 'Amethyst', 'Mrs. Burns Lemon', 'Thai Siam Queen', 'Boxwood', 'Purple Ruffles', 'Lime'

4. French Tarragon: Tender shoots and leaves with peppery, anise-like flavor and a hint of vanilla. Gourmet favorite for seasoning meats and sauces. Tarragon is a perennial that will grow to be around 2-3 feet tall. Best Garden Variety: 'French Tarragon'

5. Dill: This herb looks cheerful when planted behind zinnias and coreopsis. Sprinkle its feathery leaves on grilled fish and in salads and sauces. Best Garden Variety: 'Bouquet'

6. Parsley: Two forms of parsley are used as herbs: curly leaf and Italian, or flat leaf. Parsley has an exceptionally sweet and mellow sometimes nutty flavor. The flat and curly green leaves grow in clumps. Best Garden Varieties: 'Italian', 'Curly', 'Gigante'

7. Arugula: Adds a welcome nutty, spicy flavor to a salad bowl. Can also be scattered over a grilled pizza, tossed with pasta, or made into a pesto as a substitute for basil. Best Garden Varieties: 'Spicy Rustic', 'Rocket'

8. Mint: Mints are a very easy herb to grow! They have bright green leaves on bushy plants. Flowers include white, blue, and pink. Great for flavoring teas, salads, soups, and cool drinks. Spreads fast by underground stems; best grown it in pots. Best Garden Varieties: 'Spearmint', 'Peppermint', 'Chocolate', 'Orange', 'Apple', 'Mojito'

9. Rosemary: A woody herb with narrow green leaves and grayish white undersides. The strong but subtle piney-mint flavor is a perfume that no good cook should live without! Best Garden Varieties: 'Spice Island', 'Tuscan Blue', 'Prostrate', 'Barbeque'

10. Chives: Chives grow in clumps that produce 12 inch long spears that are green and grass-like. They are the smallest species in the onion family, and for flavor have hints of honey, light onion, and garlic. In late spring and summer they produce edible clusters of flowers that come in shades of rose, purple, or white. Best Garden Varieties: 'Chinese', 'Garlic'

11. Lemon Grass: Pumps out grassy foliage with a strong lemon scent and is widely used in Southeast Asian dishes. The stalks are more flavorful, larger and more bulbous at the stem. Best Garden Variety: 'True West Indian'

12. Oregano: Oregano produces an intense, zesty flavor that we often use in many Italian dishes. It is a mounding plant with low growing branches that can get up to a foot tall, it also produces spikes of purple flowers that can reach a couple inches in height. Best Garden Varieties: 'Dittany of Crete', 'Greek', 'Hopley's Purple', 'Italian'

13. Marjoram: Marjoram is a highly perfumed herb with thick trusses of dainty white or purple flowers which can also make it a highly decorative herb that is suitable for hte flower garden. Use fresh leaves in sauces, stuffings, sparingly in salads, in egg and cheese dishes, chicken soup, stews, and in fruit salads. Best Garden Variety: 'Sweet Marjoram'

14. Chervil: Chervil's flavor falls somewhere between tarragon and parsley, and it sprouts in spring just in time for pea and new potato season. Has a mild anise flavor that adds bright, and unexpected dimension to egg dishes, salads, vinaigrette's, roasted vegetables, and soups. Best Garden Variety: 'Vertissimo'

15. Cilantro: This bright green herb is worth growing for it's fresh green leaves as well as for its seeds, which are the spice coriander. The coriander seeds form after the cilantro sends up its pretty white flowers. Fresh leaves add flavor to salsa and guacamole. Coriander adds a bright citrusy flavor to chicken and fish dishes. Best Garden Variety: 'Slow-bolt'