• Give a friend a gift of potted herbs.kitchen herbs image by PhotographerOne from Fotolia.com
  
  If you have a friend who likes to use herbs in his cooking, then give him a gift of a potted herb or a potted herb garden. There are many creative ways to package a potted herb gift. Decide whether your gift will be grown inside or outside. This will help you determine the items you need to help the herbs survive.
  
  

Container Herbs

• Purchase a window box, ceramic pot or other decorative container for a variety of herbs. You do not have to plant individual herbs in individual pots; you can plant a variety in one pot. Make sure the herbs have similar moisture requirements. Herbs need sunlight to grow, so consider this when putting together your container herb gift. Your friend can place the container in a garden to fill empty spaces, on a windowsill or just outside a patio door. Place seed packs, a spade, a small watering can and a small bag of potting soil in your window box or large ceramic pot. This gives your friend the resources he needs to start planting.
  
  

Clay Pot Herbs

• Give a friend who lives in tight quarters--such as an apartment--a clay pot herb. This single pot can sit in the windowsill. Select a pot that is large, but will still fit on a windowsill--up to 12 inches in diameter. "Clay pots leach moisture from the soil, so soak them in water before potting," recommends Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Purchase herbs that have sprouted in plastic containers, and transfer them to a clay pot after filling it with potting soil. "Press the potted herb into the soil to make a planting hole that's just the right size. Gently slip the young plant out of its nursery pot," recommends the magazine.
  
  

Potted Herb Markers

• Purchase a decorative set of potted herb markers that your friend can slip into her potted herbs to identify what is growing in specific spots. This is especially helpful when you are giving a gift that has many different varieties of herbs growing in the same pot. Select markers with a wipe-away face and use special markers so that your friend can change the name on the marker as she experiments with growing other herbs.