African blue basil grows equally well in sun or light shade. It requires a bare minimum of water. It is a perennial and will grace your garden for several years at least. You can use it make pesto, to sprinkle over roasted potatoes and to flavor drinks and salads. Fresh basil leaves are a slightly grayed green, speckled purple underneath. Purple buds open into delicious lavender flowers.

Considered a tender perennial, it probably won’t live through frost, but overwinters well if grown in a container indoors. And since it just likes to grow and grow, it benefits from as large a container as you can give it.