Easy Herbs That Aren’t Worth Growing From Seed

Turns out not every herb is as easy to grow from seed as you might think. While the seed packet wall looks tempting, some plants like anise and rosemary can be real headaches to start from scratch. The specific needs of these finicky plants often leave home gardeners disappointed. Watching a sprout emerge is part of the fun, but for these herbs, the effort rarely leads to a worthwhile harvest.

Anise and rosemary have tricky growth habits that can make them tough for beginners to manage. Anise has a sensitive taproot that makes transplanting a challenge, while rosemary has notoriously low germination rates and a painfully slow growth pace in the first year. Balancing the moisture, light, and temperature these seeds need is no easy feat. Many gardeners find it’s just easier to skip the hassle and buy established plants instead.

Trying to grow anise from seed is a common mistake, since the plant needs at least 120 days of warm weather to produce its signature seeds. And with a sensitive taproot that hates being disturbed, it’s tough to start it indoors and transplant it later. If the soil temperature isn’t a consistent 70 degrees, the seeds may not even germinate at all.

Even if the seeds do sprout, the delicate seedlings need protection from wind and rain. And by the time they’re ready to harvest, the first frost has often already arrived to kill them off. Buying an established anise plant and leaving it in a container is usually the best way to guarantee you get those fragrant seeds before the season ends. It saves you the headache of constantly monitoring the soil moisture for a plant that might never reach maturity in time.

Trying to grow rosemary from seed is a test of patience that most gardeners won’t win. The seeds are notoriously finicky and take forever to sprout – you might wait a whole month just to see the first green sprout. And even then, the seedling grows painfully slow, only reaching a few inches tall in the first several weeks. By the time a seed-started rosemary is big enough to use, an established plant would already be twice the size.

Plus, seeds often produce plants without the strong aroma and oil content of culinary varieties. They also have a short shelf life, so they need to be fresh to have a chance at sprouting. Skip the frustration of the seed tray and just buy an already-established rosemary plant instead. You’ll save months of work and end up with a plant that can be harvested by the time cold weather hits. And unlike anise, rosemary can even be brought indoors for the winter.