You and I are in the same gardening zone, and I don't believe it's a perennial here. I buy new plants every year.

I live in s. Ga and basil is not a perennial here. They root easily in a vase in a sunny window.

Ronnie, how would I root it?
Will it grow in water, throughout the winter?

cuttings can just be put in a jar of h20, i don't know how long they will thive like that thou. we are in orlando and do our's in a homemade hydroponics unit ie they grow in nutrient rich h20. my DH says we are on atleast our 5th generation as it reseeds in the pot often thou i tend to keep it well pinched back lol so it doesn't flower. the original plant is a few yrs old, we did have to bring it in the garage a couple times this past record cold winter. ~ liz

I was thinking that with the amount of basil some of the posters are picking, it must multiply like crazy.

So next year I'll make sure to get several plants, and put them in pots on my balcony again. Hopefully they grow as well as they did this year. I tried growing some indoors, but they turned black on me.

You can also buy packets of seed and plant them around your tomato plants. It grows very well here and tomato and Basil are considered good companion plants. That means they grow well together.

Basil is an annual plant in every zone - it grows, flowers, and sets seeds in one season. The main plant will die every year.

Buy a new plant or plant some seeds. Cuttings may work, but the flavor of the basil might change.

You can grow it in a sunny window all winter but it is has a different flavor than that grown in the warm earth of summer. Most of the basil sold in the grocery store is grown hydroponically, the taste is one of basil but without the earthiness and full body we expect

I've never been able to over-winter herbs in my house. (I'm in Long Island, part of the cold NorthEast). It just gets too dry in winter, I tend to keep the heat up in my home. My daughter and I also seem to get sinus problems and nosebleeds in winter from the dry air. So I treat basil as an annual, buy new plants every spring. I grow basil in a container on my patio. I do enjoy being able to walk outdoors with a scissors and snip fresh basil leaves for salads and sauce. One of my favorites is Marinara spaghetti sauce (any canned/jarred brand will do) with torn basil leaves added about five minutes before serving.

Last year before our big freeze, I harvested the last of my basil. I had some left over after making pesto, so I just stuck in a vase with plain water. It rooted and I had fresh basil all winter. It could have been planted, but I used the last of it in February and just bought new plants for the spring garden.
Also, I usually have a few "volunteer basil" that pop up - my lime basil went to seed last year and I had several nice free ones for the garden this year.