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Biennial Plant · zones 3–6 · 15 varieties

Celery

Apium graveolens

Apiaceae — the same plant family as carrot, parsley, parsnip, dill and 5 more here. Relatives share pests and diseases, which is why rotation plans group by family.

Celery (Apium graveolens) is a biennial plant for USDA zones 3–6. It wants full sun and pH 6–7 soil, with about 1–2 in of water weekly. It matures in about 100–130 days from sowing, or 80–120 days from setting out a transplant. Watch for aphids and celery early blight. Below: its full sourced profile from 7 extension sources, plus a planting calendar timed to your frost dates.

Zones 3–6 — USDA USDA
Sun Full sun
Water High
Matures 80–120 days — from transplant from transplant
Mature size 1.5–3 ft
Spacing 6–12 in
Soil pH 6–7
Frost Half hardy
When to plant celerytypical · zone 6b
Your zone
…or your ZIP, for your real frost dates

Germinating
Seedlings
Establishing
Growing
Harvest

Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP for yours. This calendar assumes the crop is started indoors. Timing is a guide from the crop's sourced growth stages; confirm with your local frost dates and extension before you sow.

Growing celeryevery fact says where it came from

What we will not put a number on

We do not give a feeding rate for this crop, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The figures published by extension services are pounds of nitrogen per acre for a production field — they do not convert safely to a raised bed or a pot without knowing your soil test and your fertilizer's analysis, and guessing errs toward burning roots. It is also why every chart you find online disagrees with the next one.

We give watering as a depth per week rather than gallons per plant, because that is how it is actually measured and how the published figures are written. A gallons-per-plant number depends on your spacing, your soil and whether the plant is in a pot — so it would look more precise than it is.

Site & soil

Hardiness zones
3–6
Sun
Full sun
Soil pH
6–7
Soil texture
Sandy, Well drained
Frost tolerance
Half hardy
Suffers in days above
85 °F

No published figure for the temperature that would kill it. We looked — where a number is missing here it is missing from the research, not skipped. The crop’s frost and heat tolerance above still applies.

The plant

Mature height
1.5–3 ft
Mature spread
12–18 in
Growth rate
Moderateest
Spacing in row
6–12 in
Between rows
24–36 in
Planting depth
0.125–0.25 in
Container size
1–2 gal — low end is the minimum, high end is betterest
Support
Self-supportingest
Grown from
Transplant, Direct sow

Water & feeding

Water needs
High
Water per week
1–2 in/wk
Critical water
Vegetativeest
Feeding
Heavy

Timing & fruiting

Days to maturity
100–130 days from seed · 80–120 days from transplant
Harvest cues
Stem reached harvest size
Tolerates cold down to
36 °F

Planted again for autumn

Set plants out by
early Aug typical · zone 6b

80 days to maturity from setting a plant out — that is what our sources measure for this crop, so this is a date for planting out and not a sowing date, counted back from the first frost above. Not published for anywhere in particular: it is your own frost date and this crop's own figure, which is why it works wherever you are. A days-to-maturity figure is a catalog number for a good season rather than a promise, and a cold month moves it.

Edible parts per source: petiole.

What tends to go wrongmost-cited first
PestsAphidsLeafhoppersCarrot rust flyCarrot weevilCutwormsWhitefliesCabbage looperSlugsRoot knot nematodes
DiseasesCelery early blightCelery late blightCelery fusarium yellowsPink rotCelery mosaic virusAster yellowsPowdery mildewBlack heart

Compiled from the extensions cited below. Which ones actually show up depends on your region — your extension's local list is the last word.

All 15 varietiesthe ones with their own page are linked
Variety Type DaysColorDiseaseWhat it is known for
Afina Cutting Cutting Leaf 80–120 Green
Chinese Pink Cutting Leaf 80 Bicolor
Conquistador Heirloom Stalk 95 Green
Giant Red Heirloom Stalk 100–140 Red Restoration Seeds describes this astakes the cold
Golden Self-Blanching Heirloom Self Blanching 85 Yellow Annie's Heirloom Seeds describes this asdraws bees and butterflies · happy in a pot
Kintsai Heirloom Cutting Leaf 45–60
Merengo F1 Stalk 80 Green FUSARIUM_WILT
Monterey F1 Stalk 80–120 Tozer Seeds describes this asgives a heavy crop
Par-Cel Heirloom Cutting Leaf 72 Green Underwood Gardens describes this astakes the cold · takes the heat
Peppermint Stick Heirloom Stalk 80–85 Bicolor
Redventure Stalk 84 Purple
Tall Golden Plume Heirloom Self Blanching 80–120 Yellow
Tall Utah 52-70 Improved Stalk 90–100 Green Wildwood Outdoor Living (Burpee reseller) describes this astakes the cold
Tango Stalk 80 Green Johnny's Selected Seeds describes this astakes the heat
Ventura Stalk 80 Green FUSARIUM_WILT
Sources7 cited · 6 organizations
  • Harvest to Table
  • Johnny's Selected Seeds
  • Michigan State University Extension
  • NC State Extension
  • University of Maryland Extension
  • Utah State University Extension

We compile bare facts from these university-extension and horticultural sources, never copied prose. 18 of the 22 values on this page carry a citation. The rest are marked est; hover one and it says why — either nobody publishes a figure we could point at, or a person set it and attached no source. Figures vary with climate and seed source; confirm with your local extension before you buy.

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