If you like the aromatic flavor of salsa served in Mexican restaurants, you’ll like cilantro. The leaves have an instantly recognizable fragrance that fills a room when you cut them. Sometimes called Chinese parsley, its distinctive aroma and flavor is also part of Caribbean and Asian foods, lending flavor to recaito, salsas, curries, salads, chutneys, herbed butters, and meat marinades.

Cilantro looks like flat leaf Italian parsley, but the leaves are thinner. It grows in a rosette of stemmy leaves that are ready to harvest shortly after planting. Young leaves have the best flavor, so be sure to harvest often. It is a fast-growing annual except in milder climates where it will overwinter. Cilantro grows tall and blooms at the end of its life, usually after the weather gets hot. After it blooms, harvest the seeds–they are what you buy in spice jars as coriander, another common ingredient in Asian cooking. You can grind the seeds or use them whole. Some gardeners also let the seeds drop to make new plants.

Fall is a great time to grow cilantro in mild climates, as the plants are frost tolerant and love the cool weather in fall, winter, and early spring.

Organic varieties are only available at retailers.

• Type Cool season annual, though can overwinter in milder climates
• Planting time Early spring, fall
• Features Aromatic leaves, flavorful seeds
• Light Full sun to part shade
• Soil Light, moist but well drained
• Spacing 12 to 18 inches
• Plant size 18 to 24 inches tall, 12 inches wide
• Garden use In containers, herb and flower gardens
• Culinary use Leaves & seeds in Mexican, Caribbean or Asian dishes

Some Bonnie Plants varieties may not be available in your local area, due to different variables in certain regions. Also, if any variety is a limited, regional variety it will be noted on the pertinent variety page.