Petroselinum crispum
Parsley, Moss curled parsley
Also known as Petroselinum hortense
- Height × spread
- 0.3m × 0.3m
- Position
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Very cold to -20C (RHS H6)
Availability
Please ask in store about availability
Many plants are seasonal. Call 01234 567890 to check current stock.
About this plant
This is that most familiar garnish, parsley. It is a stout little herb with rather crusty green foliage, wrinkled and furled. It forms a tight little clump and always looks appetising. It makes pretty edging for the herbaceous border and is also a decorative plant in the herb garden or the herb pot. It has been referred to as the only herb that the British use in their cooking. Traditionally, you should not sell your parsley but only give it away, apparently, if you sell it, you sell your luck as well. The best day to sow it is on Good Friday. Tradition has it that, if sown by a woman, in East Anglia at least, she should be the mistress of the house. If she isn't, she will become pregnant.
- Flower colour
- White
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Variegated
- No
- Scent
- No
- Shape
- Dome
- Height
- 0.3m
- Spread
- 0.3m
- Season of interest
- Spring, Summer, Autumn
- Evergreen
- Evergreen
- Garden style
- Herb garden, Cottage garden
- Sun or shade
- Likes full sun, likes part shade, tolerates light shade
- Soil type
- Clay, Loam (normal)
- Soil pH
- All types
- Drainage
- Moisture retentive soil, Damp and wet soil, Well drained soil
- Hardiness
- Very cold to -20C (RHS H6)
- Borders & containers
- Borders
- Hazards
- No
Spring
Spring - late · Outdoors
Feed with slow release fertiliser
Apply a general purpose slow release fertiliser, spreading it around the root area of the plant as it is coming into growth. (Or apply a liquid feed at regular intervals throughout the growing season.)
This is a simple way to provide a nutrient boost as a single annual procedure.
Spring-Autumn · Outdoors
Water to keep the soil moist
For best results, this plant needs soil that is always moist. Water deeply and regularly as soon as soil appears dry. Even for established plants in the ground, a dry week can cause problems with some soils. Check plants in pots more often, especially in hot weather. Or install an automatic irrigation system which will do the hard work for you, even when you are away on holiday.
Without regular watering some plants never fully regain their beauty.
Winter
Winter · Outdoors
Apply a protective mulch
Protect with a mulch so that the plant does not become too wet in winter.
A mulch is a covering that can: protect the soil surface from rain, heat and cold; deter weeds; provide nutrients. Organic indicates that material has vegetative origin e.g. manure, compost. Synthetics i.e. plastics, or stones are often called mulches.