I have a hard time hanging herbs -- they seem to get dusty and cobwebby (I live in a 155 year old house, and old houses seem to breed cobwebs) and even mildewy in the humid summer months (no A/C in the rooms I'd be inclined to hang them in). They also suffer if there is too much light. I find the besst way to preserve basil is to puree in a food processor with olive oil (or a more neutral oil if you want to use it in Asian foods) and garlic, then bag and freeze. I used to dry sage in the microwave, but twice caused fires when doing that, so now give the sage pretty much the same treatment. I used to just bring in my rosemary plant, but it died for some reason this year.