House Beautiful June 7, 2025
Lifestyle
Even if you’ve never grown a single houseplant, we promise you can grow herbs! Parsley is one of the easiest herbs to grow, and you can add it as a flavorful garnish to nearly all of your dishes. It grows equally well in garden beds or containers, so you can grow it in pots even if you only have a small patio or balcony. With its finely-textured foliage, you also can tuck it into mixed containers alongside annual flowers to add texture and interest to plantings.
Parsley is a biennial, which means it grows as a plant the first year, then sends up a seed stalk with flowers the second year. While pollinators love these tiny umbel-shaped, greenish-yellow flowers, many people say the leaves are more bitter in the second season. This is why most gardeners plant parsley anew every year if it's to be used as a culinary herb. Also, you can leave your parsley plant in the ground over the winter after a frost. If it’s a mild winter, the plant may sprout new growth in the spring.
Even if you don't cook with parsley, there are plenty of other reasons why you may want to plant this herb. Just like other members of the carrot family, parsley is a host plant for the larvae (caterpillars) of the beautiful swallowtail butterfly. The caterpillars will munch away on the leaves, then go elsewhere to pupate into a butterfly. So, it’s worth planting a few extra parsley plants to support this native beneficial pollinator.
Ready to get growing? Here's what you need to know about how to care for a parsley plant.
Parsley grows best in cool summers; it will quickly fade in heat and doesn’t do well in hot climates in the summer. In warmer places, grow it in fall and winter. The seeds can be finicky and take from seven to 30 days to germinate, so it’s easier to grow this herb from seedlings. Plant seedlings in the ground or pots after all danger of frost has passed.
Parsley is one of the few herbs that, although it loves full sun (six or more hours of direct sunlight), will also tolerate some afternoon shade. In fact, in hot climates, it prefers afternoon shade.
Keep the plants consistently moist, and do not allow them to dry out completely.
Parsley tolerates most soil types, but it does best in well-drained, rich soils. If you have heavy clay soil, which may stay too wet, plant in pots.
Apply a balanced fertilizer twice a season, or use a water-soluble fertilizer in containers every month or so to keep the plants producing.
Parsley is easy to grow with few issues. However, you may occasionally encounter fungal diseases such as leaf spot or powdery mildew, which show up as ugly brown or tan spots. Space the plants well to allow good air flow to prevent these diseases, which can kill the entire plant, from developing. Aphids occasionally appear, too; simply blast them off with a spray from your garden hose.
You can snip off individual stems or leaves as needed once the plant reaches about eight inches in height. If taking the whole stalk, snip off the entire stem, close to the ground, starting from the outside of the plant. Harvesting this way will ensure a steady supply all season long.
There’s also a type of parsley called root parsley (Petroselinum tuberosum), which has edible leaves and a white root that is cooked like a parsnip or turnip. It’s grown far less frequently in gardens than the other types of parsley.
Yes and no. While it’s technically not “toxic” like garlic or onions are if a pet ingests them, parsley contains furanocoumarins, which can cause dermal irritation, which is similar to a sunburn, if ingested in large amounts. Also, any plant can cause GI upset, such as vomiting, if eaten in large enough quantities. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, so contact your vet if you suspect your pet has ingested parsley.
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