I was invited to visit a homeowner's lawn that was emerald green except for large patches of dead grass caused by misuse of a herbicide. The homeowner took full responsibility for causing what happened to the lawn, but I couldn't resist suggesting that the damage may also have been done by a "basilisk."

"What's a basilisk?" he asked.

A basilisk, I explained, is a foot-long, slithering, serpent-like creature that ancient Romans believed could kill a person with a single bite. Like a broad-spectrum herbicide, basilisks also kill plants they touch.

Legend has it that if you were bitten by a basilisk, the cure was to consume a handful of basil, a culinary herb native to India.

Basil and basilisks were on my mind because I'd recently transplanted some basil where it would receive full sun and where soil drains freely.

By the end of the growing season, our basil plants will grow 24 inches tall and 18 inches wide. While we're waiting for the specimens to mature, however, we'll harvest stems on a regular basis, because harvesting stems causes basil to become bushier and to produce more leaves.

Likewise, flower stalks should also be removed, before their tiny white flowers bloom. Otherwise, the plants stop producing new leaves.

Just one of these frost-tender plants — kept well pruned — produces more leaves than most families use in a year, particularly if the surplus is frozen or dried.

Close to 200 varieties of basil are in cultivation. I planted Ocimum basilicum (sweet basil), a popular variety used for 5,000 years as a culinary herb, and the variety that cures bites from mythological basilisks.

But unfortunately, basil can't cure grass that was smitten by misused herbicide. Always, then, read and follow the labeled directions before using any lawn-and-garden product.

This week in the garden

The stress caused by last summer's drought and heat waves to certain varieties of trees and shrubs is showing up this spring in the form of dead growth and fewer flowers.

Removing dead growth and applying extra mulch, as well as watering plants susceptible to hot and dry weather, will go a long way toward restoring their vigor.