Bonsai

Bonsai is the first herb PanAmerican Seed added to its Kitchen Minis line, a series bred specifically for finished potted plants that are sold ready to pick on a kitchen counter rather than for the vegetable row. It is a fine-leaf Greek-type basil rather than one of the broad-bladed Genovese selections that fill most seed racks, and it was selected to hold a tight dome on its own without the repeated pinching a standard sweet basil needs. PanAmerican describes the habit as mounded, uniform and fast, and finishes it in 4-6 inch pots; Territorial Seed retails the same variety in its kitchen-counter collection for windowsill growing. The practical payoff for a cook is leaf size, because the foliage is small enough to drop whole into a sauce, soup or dressing with no chopping. Choose it when the growing space is a bright sill or a single small pot instead of a garden bed.