When an amateur gardener and allotment holder such as Anne James speaks with such enthusiasm about basil, I just have to listen. Mention basil and Anne’s face lights up. It is her favourite herb — and for good reason. Anne is not just a gardener, she is a cook too. Basil rates as one of her main ingredients when she creates food during the summer. Like the ancients she sees basil as the king of herbs.

I have featured Anne before on this page. She is the friend who stages an annual basil party, presenting all those invited with a glorious pot of basil as a way of celebrating the summer and all it offers. It is always a fun occasion. I love trotting home from one of these parties clutching my little pot of basil which, providing I look after it, will supply me with an ingredient that will enrich my salads, pasta dishes and so many other dishes.

Her enthusiasm for herbs, most particularly basil, is infectious. Over the years Anne has experimented with a range of herbs, growing a lot of different species. She has 15 varieties of mint (menthe) on her allotment for example, including the pretty, but inedible Korean Mint, the stocky Moroccan mint for making mint tea, spearmint, pineapple and the lovely chocolate mint which is great in ice cream or coffee. She also has the rump of the sage (salvia) collection that she started some time ago and a small collection of thyme (thymus) which is gradually expanding.

However, she says, lovely though these are, they pale into insignificance when she tends her basils. Growing basil has become a passion, and discovering new types a bit of an obsession now. With at least 150 different kinds of basil available, including annuals, perennials, shrubs and subshrubs, she is never short of inspiration.

The word basil comes from ‘basileus’, the Greek word for king, implying the power the ancient people ascribed to basil, a power that still exerts itself today. You only have to rub a basil leaf in your fingers and smell the aromatic fragrance the leaves emit to know this is no ordinary plant. There are some 20 constituents in basil oils, the main ones being anise, cinnamon, lemon, rose, lilac/orange blossom, thyme and camphor.

Anne said: “Basil oil is very volatile in its make-up, and so its taste and smell can vary with the same type or be affected by growing conditions, which is a great challenge for any gardener. When using it in the kitchen it is important to think about the effect you want before deciding which basil to use, though the best-known taste is probably that of the basils I would refer to as European or Mediterranean, which taste mainly of lilac/orange blossom with a touch of anise.”

For a Mediterranean taste that has a hint of thyme and oregano, Anne goes for Greek basil. It is a dwarf variety with minute white flowers and tiny pungent leaves which packs a real punch.

For show, Anne says it is hard to beat a Bush Basil that grow into such perfect round spheres that one year she tied red ribbons on each one and used them as stylish table decorations for a large summer garden party.

For colour, you can’t beat the purple basils. Purple Ruffles grows to some three feet, and its leaves are crinkly and frilled. You will often spot this one being used as a bedding plant by municipal parks. For flavour the less flamboyant Dark Opal purple basil is perhaps a better choice. Its purpley-black leaves and long cerise pink flowers are just as pretty. With Dark Opal the oils subtly combine anise, cinnamon and rose, making it a perfect partner for green salad leaves.

When cooking Thai or Vietnamese dishes, it’s the basils with more anise that touch the spot. Anne recommends the Siam Queens and their close cousins, the Thai Basils. She loves frying the leaves in oil as you would sage leaves for a crunchy finish that makes a superb garnish.

As no basil responds well to long, slow cooking, this is a great way of using basil leaves. If they are slow-cooked, their flavour evaporates and the leaves can become slimy.

Anne begins sowing her herb seeds in late spring, once the frosts are over, as basil is a warm weather plant — it adores the sun. By this time of the year, she has more than 50 different basils potted up and ready to use and distribute to friends.

She said: “Growing your own is comparatively easy and such fun. As any basil lover knows, just one accidental bruising of the leaf creates the heady musky unmistakable scent that transports you from the depressing prospect of endless supermarket shelves of sanitised and over-packaged good to a paradise where the sun always shines and the company, food and wine are unendingly good.”

Who can ask for more?