Wild celery

Apium graveolens

In other languages: Selderij (Nederlands) · Céleri (Français)

Grows wild in Belgium.

In its wild form, celery is a biennial umbellifer, 30–100 cm tall, that grows naturally in brackish and salty places: along ditches and dykes in the coastal polders, at the edges of salt marshes and along tidal rivers. In Belgium wild celery is fairly rare and found mainly at the coast; inland you see it little. You recognise it by its strong, typical celery smell, its glossy, pinnate leaves with broad, toothed lobes and its small, greenish-white umbels on short stalks in the leaf axils. Stick celery, celeriac and leaf celery were all bred from this wild plant. In the garden you usually grow leaf celery as a kitchen herb; if you let a plant overwinter, it flowers in its second year and attracts many small insects.

Caution: Celery is a well-known food allergen: people with a celery allergy sometimes react to the sap alone. In sensitive people the sap can also irritate the skin in combination with sunlight; wear gloves for big harvests. Never pick wild umbellifers to eat: wild celery resembles highly poisonous species of wet places, such as fine-leaved water dropwort and cowbane.

Updated on 9 October 2026

Light
Sun or partial shade
preferably some sun
Moisture
Normal to wet
must not dry out
Hardiness
down to -15 °C
protect young plants
Size
0.8 m
tall, 0.4 m wide
Flowering
June–September

Key facts
Pruning months	March
Height	0.8 m
Native to Belgium	Yes
Flowering	June–September

Identify

How to recognise it

Growth form: Biennial: a leaf rosette in the first year, a much-branched flowering stem of 30–100 cm in the second. After setting seed the plant dies.
Leaf: Glossy dark green, once pinnate with 3–7 broad, diamond-shaped or three-lobed, coarsely toothed segments. The upper leaves are smaller and divided into three. Strong celery smell.
Flower: Tiny greenish-white flowers in umbels of 2–5 cm, short-stalked or almost stalkless, often opposite a leaf, without bracts. Flowers from June to September.
Fruit/Seed: Small, almost round, brown fruits of 1–1.5 mm with fine ribs; they smell of celery.
Stem: Deeply grooved, hairless, green and much branched.
Confusion with: Fool’s watercress grows in shallow water, has more finely toothed leaflets and lacks the strong celery smell. Poisonous umbellifers of wet places, such as fine-leaved water dropwort and cowbane, have more finely divided leaves and larger white umbels. Always sniff: only celery smells unmistakably of celery.

Flowering: June–September · Pruning: March

In your garden

Why grow it?

In the second year the small, open flowers attract hoverflies, flies, little beetles and parasitic wasps.
The wild ancestor of stick celery, celeriac and leaf celery: a living piece of farming history.
Leaf celery is an easy kitchen herb: you harvest leaves for months for soups, stews and stock.
A typical plant of brackish ditch banks and dykes at the coast, which you can smell before you see it.
It tolerates salt: suitable for a coastal garden, where sea wind and salty soil trouble many other plants.

Wild celery: where does it grow best?

In the wild in brackish and salty places: ditch banks and dykes in the coastal polders, edges of salt marshes and banks of tidal rivers.
Full sun to half shade.
Moist to wet, fertile soil; it tolerates salt well, but not drying out.
In the garden: grow leaf celery in the vegetable patch or a large pot, in humus-rich, moisture-retentive soil. Wild celery suits the damp edge of a pond or ditch, especially in a coastal garden.

Goes well with

Leek: A classic neighbour in the vegetable garden, and in the soup.
Pot marigold: Flowers for a long time and attracts hoverflies and other beneficial insects.
Marsh mallow: Grows on the same brackish ditch banks at the coast, with soft pink flowers.
Purple loosestrife: Purple-pink spikes at a damp pond edge, next to the small green umbels.

Maintenance

Wild celery: when and how to plant it?

Buy seed or young plants of leaf celery from a garden centre, or seed of wild celery from a native seed supplier. Never dig up plants in the wild.
Sow indoors in March–April in a seed tray. The seed is very fine and needs light to germinate: scatter it on moist compost, press it down and do not cover it. It germinates slowly, in 2–3 weeks, at 15–20 °C.
Prick the seedlings out into small pots once they have two true leaves, and keep them indoors or in a cold frame until mid-May: prolonged cold can make young plants bolt in their first year.
Plant out after mid-May, 25–30 cm apart, with some compost in the planting hole.
Water straight away and keep the soil moist all summer.

Care

Water: Celery is thirsty: keep the soil moist at all times and water generously twice a week in dry weather. Drought makes the leaves tough and bitter.
Feeding: Leaf celery is a hungry crop: work in a good layer of compost in spring. Wild celery on a damp ditch bank needs no extra feeding.
Mulching: A layer of grass clippings or compost around the plants keeps the soil cool and moist.
Harvesting: Always cut the outer stalks of leaf celery, from July until the frosts; the heart keeps growing.
Letting it seed: In the second year, let one plant flower: insects love it and you can harvest seed, which you can also use as a spice in the kitchen.

Tip: Do not cover celery seed: it needs light to germinate. Scatter it on moist compost, press it down and put a pane of glass or a clear lid on the tray until the seedlings appear.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: March.

When: No real pruning. You harvest from July until the frosts and cut away the dry flower stems in March.

How:

When harvesting, cut the outer stalks at the base and leave the heart.
In the second year, leave the flower stems until the seed is ripe, for the insects and for your own seed.
Leave the dry stems over winter as shelter for insects and cut them away in March.

Caution: If you handle a lot of celery leaves and then work in the sun, wear gloves: in sensitive people the sap can irritate the skin in combination with sunlight.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed: The only way. Collect the seed in August–September from a plant in its second year and dry it well. Sow leaf celery indoors in March–April; wild celery can also be sown outdoors in autumn on moist, bare soil.
Self-sowing: On a damp ditch bank, wild celery sometimes self-sows if you leave the seed stems standing.

Wild celery: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −15 °C: protect young plants.

In its first year celery overwinters as a leaf rosette; in mild winters leaf celery stays green and you can harvest now and then.
Hardy to about −10 to −15 °C; cover the plants with straw or fleece in severe winters.
In its second spring the plant runs to flower and dies after setting seed.
Dry flower stems give shelter to small insects in winter.

Diseases and pests

Celery fly: Its larvae mine the leaves, leaving brown, blistered patches. Remove affected leaves and cover young plants with insect mesh.
Leaf spot: Brown spots with tiny black dots on the leaves, especially in wet summers. Remove affected leaves and do not sow in the same spot every year.
Bolting: Young plants exposed to prolonged cold too early flower in their first year. Only plant out after mid-May.
Slugs: They love young plants. Pick them off in the evening and plant out sturdy plants.
Tough, bitter leaves: Caused by drought or soil that is too poor. Water regularly, mulch and work in compost.

Through the year

March: Sow indoors, in light and warmth. Cut away last year’s dry stems.
April: Prick out seedlings into small pots and keep them indoors or in a cold frame.
May: After mid-May, plant out 25–30 cm apart. Add compost.
June: Water. Second-year plants start to flower.
July: First harvest of leaf celery. Flowering: hoverflies on the small umbels.
August: Harvest. Water generously in dry spells. The seed ripens.
September: Harvest and dry the seed. Keep harvesting.
October: Harvest leaves and freeze or dry them for soup.
November: Cover plants with straw or fleece in severe frost.

You and this species

Did you know?

In ancient Greece the winners of the Nemean Games received a crown of celery. The Sicilian city of Selinunte owes its name to the Greek selinon, celery, and its coins carried a celery leaf.
Stick celery, celeriac and leaf celery are all the same species: growers selected one for thick stalks, another for a swollen root and the third for plenty of leaves.
Graveolens means ‘strong-smelling’: wild celery smells even stronger than the cultivated forms.

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