Parsley

Perk up your garden and your mealtimes by adding parsley to your growing roster. The only maintenance this fuss-free herb requires is planting and harvesting. Give plants evenly moist, well-drained soil, and you'll enjoy fresh green flavors in no time. Curly leaf parsley brings a crisp taste to salads, vegetables, and herb butters, and it's a key ingredient in bouquet garni and fines herbes, an herb blend used in French cuisine. Flat-leaf Italian parsley boasts a stronger flavor that holds up well in cooking, earning this herb a place in soups, stews, and sauces.

In the garden, both parsleys thrive in beds or containers. Curly leaf parsley makes a handsome edging for planting beds, particularly when paired with a contrasting foliage texture, such as upright chives or fat-leaf basil. Black swallowtail butterflies lay eggs on curly parsley. Look for black, green, and yellow striped caterpillars munching their way along stems.

Light:

Sun

Plant Type:

Annual,Herb

Plant Height:

8-24 inches tall

Plant Width:

8-24 inches wide

Flower Color:

Flowers are cream to white

Bloom Time:

Flowers mid- to late summer

Landscape Uses:

Containers,Beds & Borders

Special Features:

Attractive Foliage,Dried Flowers,Attracts Butterflies

Top Varieties

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'Moss Curled' parsley

Petroselinum crispum 'Moss Curled' unfurls leaves with a clean, crisp flavor that doesn't hold up well in cooking.
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Italian flat-leaf parsley

Petroselinum neapolitanum is great for seasoning hot dishes, since its flavor holds up well under heat.
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Garden Plans

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Lush Foliage Garden Plan
Beautiful Butterflies Garden Plan
Fall Vegetable Garden Plan
Inspired by Italy Vegetable Garden Plan
Spring Vegetable Garden Plan
Summer Vegetable Garden Plan
Colorful Vegetable Garden Plan

Harvest Tips

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Cut parsley as needed throughout the growing season. Harvest by snipping outer stems to about 1 inch above soil. If you're not harvesting parsley regularly, rejuvenate leggy plants by pruning them midway through the growing season.

Use parsley fresh; cut stems keep in the refrigerator up to one month when wrapped in a damp towel. To preserve parsley, dry stems by bundling and hanging in dark place or spreading in a single layer on screens. When leaves are dry, crumble and store in airtight containers. Freeze fresh parsley in zipper storage bags, chopped in ice cubes, or formed into a paste with olive oil and placed in a flat layer in storage bags.

Propagation

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Seed