What it is
Cilantro / Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is in the Apiaceae (Carrot) family. Cilantro the leaf, coriander the seed — same plant. Bolts fast in heat, so grow it in the cool months.
How to grow it
It wants full sun to part shade, water it even, and give it rich, well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 6.2–6.8. Space plants about 6 in apart. Expect roughly 45–70. Cool-season annual.
How it's used
Cilantro / Coriander is used: fresh leaf; seed as spice.
🔎 How to identify it
- Lower leaves broad, upper feathery
- White umbel flowers
- Round seed (coriander)
Edibility
How to grow & propagate cilantro / coriander
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate cilantro / coriander
The carrot family carries a long taproot and does not want to be moved, so sow it in place. The seed is slow and needs steady moisture to germinate — never let the top of the soil dry out during those first two weeks. Let one plant bolt and flower and it'll hand you next year's seed in those lacy umbels, plus feed every beneficial insect in the yard.
Growing cilantro / coriander in Texas
Give it full sun to part shade and rich, well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
This is a cool-season crop. On the Texas Gulf Coast that means your real windows are fall and late winter, not summer — sow as the heat breaks in September–October and again in late winter, and you'll harvest through our mild winters while the rest of the country is frozen out.
In a container it'll dry faster than in the ground, so check the top inch of soil daily in summer; pots on a hot Texas patio can need water every single day.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly 45–70 before you're harvesting. Pick herbs in the morning after the dew dries for the strongest oils, and harvest little and often — regular cutting keeps a herb bushy and stops it bolting. The part you're after: leaves and seeds.
Making more for free
Every seed we sell is open-pollinated, which means you can save your own from the best plants and it'll grow true next year. Let a few of your strongest plants finish and go to seed, dry it fully, and store it cool and dark. That's the whole point of heirlooms — buy once, grow forever.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.