Grow your own cocktail garden French 75 (2.0 edition)

Seasonal herbs, fruits and vegetables aren’t just for the plate or the pot. They are as easily grown for the pitcher and the glass.

Be the toast of the town by enhancing your cocktail with something gathered from the garden or farmers’ market.

We’re not just talking about celery in the Bloody Mary or muddled mint in the mojito. When it comes to garden-to-glass refreshment, the only limit is your imagination.

It’s an easy undertaking for the home cook and gardener: Plant your own little ‘‘cocktail garden’’ – a rectangular raised bed of lemon verbena, lavender, chives, parsley, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and mint.

Denise Schreiber, who authored a book on edible flowers, Eat Your Roses, said combining fresh cucumber with some muddled basil and gin is an especially refreshing summer drink.

She suggested that picking a few posies and adding them to the blender is a tasty and aromatic way to impress. A half cup of chopped rose petals in a frozen strawberry daiquiri adds a fragrance and flavour to the sip while fresh chopped nasturtiums adds a peppery taste to a bloody mary.

‘‘It’s fun. It’s a way to play with food and be creative and get people talking,’’ she said.

John Wabeck of Pittsburgh eatery Spoon, who has worked as a bartender and sometimes lends a hand behind the bar at Pennsylvania’s East Liberty restaurant, said cocktails should be approached as food: ‘‘Gear them to what’s going on seasonally.’’

That applies to herbs, fruits and vegetables. In fact, on the day of this interview, the American chef came to work carrying lavender from his garden for a cocktail that combines vodka, lemon juice, lavender syrup, Grand Marnier, absinthe and Aperol.

This cocktail has the soursweetness of limoncello combined with the effervescence of prosecco. The thyme is less a flavour additive than an aromatic that is inhaled while sipping.

French 75 is beautiful to the eye and the tongue. 30ml limoncello 30ml gin 120ml dry sparkling wine Thyme sprigs

Pour limoncello and gin into a champagne flute. Top with wine. Garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme. Serves 1.