Are Herbs Annuals or Perennials?

Growth Times

• Gardeners usually plant most herbs in the spring either from seed or from starter plants from a gardening store. Gardeners must replant the same annual herbs each spring to have them year after year. Annuals usually provide herbs all summer and then die when the weather becomes cold in fall or winter. Most perennial herbs come back easily year after year, although some require some winter protection in cold climates. Biennial herbs fit somewhere in between perennial and annual herbs, because they live for two seasons but bloom only during the second season.

Annuals

• Some annual herbs include basil, anise, dill, coriander, summer savory, cilantro and chervil. Gardeners can grow all of these herbs from seed, although gardening stores also may sell starter plants.

Perennials

• Popular perennial herbs include chives, garlic, fennel, marjoram, mint, lemongrass thyme, tarragon, lavender, rosemary, sage and catnip. Lemongrass, pineapple sage and winter tarragon are tender perennials, meaning that gardeners might have to bring them inside, plant them in greenhouses or protect them from the wind and cold with mulch to get them to survive cold winters.

Biennials

• Caraway and parsley live for two years but only bloom during the second year. The University of Idaho recommends growing parsley as an annual and replanting each year. This means that gardeners do not have to baby the plants over the winter. Since people often eat herb foliage and not flowers or seeds, gardeners do not need to have biennials during their flowering season to harvest the herbs for consumption.

Care Differences

• The National Gardening Association recommends planting all herbs in moderately rich soil with good drainage, and the University of Idaho suggests that annual herbs sometimes need more fertilizer than perennials. Perennial herbs tend to have more woody stems and can also tolerate less water than smaller, more sensitive annuals. Most herbs grow well with an inch of water per week, but perennials will survive dry periods better than annuals.