With gardening now a national obsession and herbs the kitchen connection between the stove and the soil, flowers have become the garnish of choice. The purple flowers of the mature chive are perfect when torn apart and scat-tered over a salad. Buds of oregano blooms make a perfect compliment to any entree, basil buds add punch and pizzazz to a pasta toss and even the mighty borage can perk up a dish visually as well as on the palate. (They taste a bit like cucumbers.)

But, for my money, nothing has the visual panache of the Johnny Jump up. These happy little faces, not unlike the pansy, light up any food preparation they're paired with. Purple flower petals pack punch when placed on practi-cally anything that's been plated.

Best of all, the plants seed themselves back, so they dominate a garden in one or two years. Better still, if cared for, the green plants will bear floral bursts of color the entire growing season.

Johnny Jump Ups look superb on a salad, as a plate accent next to an appe-tizer or placed on a mint leave near an entree. Finally, the stems, plucked whole with flowers intact, accent any dining table when stuffed into a tiny vase at the head of each place setting for your guests.