Herb Seeds vs Starter Plants: How to Choose for Your Garden

The Short Answer

Start basil, dill and cilantro from seed, and buy rosemary, lavender, thyme, mint and French tarragon as starter plants. Parsley, chives, oregano and sage work either way. The split follows how each herb behaves. Annual herbs sprout quickly and are used up in one season, so a packet is the sensible buy. Woody and spreading perennials are slow, unreliable or impossible from seed, and one potted plant lasts for years.

Virginia Cooperative Extension draws the same line: annual herbs such as basil, cilantro and dill are best started from seed, while many perennial herbs can be raised from seed but are often easier to buy as nursery plants. The rest of this page gives the reason for each herb, so you can adjust the rule to your own bed. If you would sooner not choose at all, a beginner herb garden kit bundles the decision.

Herb by Herb: Seed or Starter Plant

The table collects what extension services say about starting 13 common kitchen herbs.

Herb	Best start	Reason from the source
Basil	Seed	One of the easiest annual herbs from seed (Clemson); germinates in about 5 to 7 days (Illinois)
Dill	Seed, sown in place	Taproot makes it difficult to transplant (Illinois)
Cilantro	Seed, sown in place	Difficult to transplant because of its taproot (Illinois)
Fennel	Seed	Grown from seed and self-seeds freely (Georgia)
Parsley	Seed or plant	Germination typically takes 2 to 3 weeks (Georgia)
Chives	Seed or plant	Grown from seed or transplants (Clemson); clumps also divide (Georgia)
Oregano	Seed or plant	Seed, cutting or division all work (Georgia)
Sage	Seed or plant	Seed or cutting (Georgia)
Thyme	Plant	Much easier from divisions or cuttings than seed (Illinois)
Rosemary	Plant	Seed germinates very slowly; best from stem cuttings (Illinois)
Lavender	Plant	Slow to germinate, and many varieties do not come true from seed (Illinois)
Mint	Plant	Mint seed does not come true to type (Clemson)
French tarragon	Plant	Available only as plants from cuttings or root divisions (Illinois)

Herbs Worth Starting From Seed

Basil is the model seed herb. University of Illinois Extension says the seeds germinate in about 5 to 7 days when the seed-starting mix is at least 70 degrees, and that it takes only about 3 to 4 weeks to raise a transplant. Basil cannot go out early, though. Illinois advises waiting until the soil is at least 60 degrees, and notes that leaves can be damaged and blackened at 50 degrees. Seedlings raised indoors need a gradual move outside, and the steps are in our guide to hardening off seedlings.

Dill and cilantro belong in a second group: seed only, sown where the plant will grow. Both have a taproot. Illinois Extension says dill does best sown directly in the garden because the taproot makes it difficult to transplant, and gives the same reason for cilantro. A potted dill or cilantro start from a garden center has to survive the move that these herbs handle worst.

Seed also suits these two because a single sowing does not last. Dill declines soon after it starts to flower, so Illinois recommends a new sowing every two weeks through the growing season. For cilantro the interval is every 3 to 4 weeks. A packet covers a summer of repeat sowings, and a single plant would not.

On timing, Illinois suggests sowing dill one to two weeks before the last spring frost, and cilantro after the danger of frost has passed. Virginia Cooperative Extension offers an indoor option for annual herbs in general, which is to sow into individual pots of seed-starting mix about six weeks before the last frost date. Individual pots suit the taprooted herbs, since each root ball goes into the ground whole.

Herbs Worth Buying as Plants

Rosemary is the clearest case. Illinois Extension notes that rosemary can be grown from seed, but the seed germinates very slowly and the plants may take years to become usable. Cuttings root easily and grow into suitable plants quickly, so a potted plant skips the slow stage.

Lavender and thyme follow the same pattern. Lavender is best started from cuttings, because the seed is slow to germinate and many varieties do not come true from seed, so a seedling may not match the plant named on the packet. Thyme can be grown from seed, yet Illinois describes divisions or cuttings as much easier, and University of Georgia Extension says thyme is propagated most successfully by root division, layering or cuttings.

Two herbs should never be bought as seed. Mint seed does not come true to type, and Clemson’s fact sheet advises growing mints from cuttings, roots or transplants. French tarragon produces sterile flowers and cannot be grown from seed at all. Illinois Extension warns that seed sold as tarragon on seed racks and in catalogs is Russian tarragon. Virginia Cooperative Extension adds that seed-grown tarragon lacks the oils that give the herb its flavor.

The Middle Group: Either Way Works

Parsley is a seed crop with a patience tax. Georgia puts germination at 2 to 3 weeks, and Illinois suggests soaking the seed in water overnight before planting because it is so slow. If you buy parsley as a plant, handle it gently. Illinois cautions gardeners to take extra care not to damage the taproot when transplanting.

Chives, oregano and sage are listed by University of Georgia Extension as growing from seed and from vegetative pieces as well: division for chives, cuttings or division for oregano, and cuttings for sage. Buy seed if you want a row of them. Buy a plant if you want one clump to snip from this month.

Cost, Speed and Variety

A seed packet holds many plants and a nursery pot holds one, so seed wins on cost whenever you need quantity. That describes basil for pesto, dill for pickling and cilantro sown every 3 to 4 weeks. The saving shrinks when you need one plant. A single rosemary bush supplies a household, and paying for one pot avoids a wait that Illinois measures in years.

Speed runs the other way. A starter plant has already done its early growing, while seed adds germination and growing time: 5 to 7 days plus 3 to 4 weeks for basil, and 2 to 3 weeks just to sprout for parsley. If you are planting late in the season, that gap decides it.

Variety is a reason to buy plants of lavender and mint. Their seed does not reliably come true, so a plant raised from a cutting or division is the dependable way to get the named variety. Which herbs you will have to replace each year is covered in our guide to perennial and annual herbs. Starting seed indoors also has costs beyond the packet, including trays, mix and often a grow light.

A Third Route: Cuttings and Division

Once you own a plant, you rarely need to buy that herb again. The Royal Horticultural Society advises taking cuttings of shrubby herbs such as rosemary, sage and thyme in late spring, and dividing hardy herbs such as oregano, mint and thyme in spring or after flowering in late summer.

Virginia Cooperative Extension describes rooting cuttings in a container of clean, coarse sand, kept moist, covered to hold humidity and placed out of direct sun. In four to six weeks the rooted cuttings are ready to move to pots. Soft-stemmed herbs are even simpler, and you can root herb cuttings in water on a windowsill. One purchased rosemary or mint, propagated this way, gives the low per-plant cost of seed for herbs that seed cannot deliver.