About
Apium graveolens (Secalinum Group) 'Par-cel' is a variety of leaf celery valued for its fragrant foliage, suitable for garnishing, enhancing salads, and adding depth to soups and stews. This plant features slender, hollow stems that are light green and support feathery leaves with lobed or coarsely toothed segments, resembling flat-leaf parsley. In summer, it produces small clusters of creamy-white flowers on branching stems. Both the stems and seeds are also utilized in culinary applications.
About the genus
Apium includes herbaceous plants that can be classified as annual, biennial, or perennial. The foliage typically consists of leaves that are either divided into three leaflets or pinnately arranged. During the summer months, small white flowers appear, grouped in umbels.
Growing conditions
- Sunlight
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil type
- Loam, Sand
- Soil pH
- Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
- Soil moisture
- Moist but well-drained
- Aspect
- West-facing, South-facing, North-facing, East-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H6
Plant details
- Plant type
- Annual Biennial, Herbs - Culinary
- Habit
- Columnar upright
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Spread
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Time to full height
- 1-2 years
- Toxicity
- Harmful to skin with sunlight. Wear gloves and other protective equipment when handling
Care notes
- Cultivation
- Grow in fertile, moist but well drained soil in full sun or light shade. See celery cultivation for more advice
- Pruning
- No pruning required
- Propagation
- Propagate by seed. See sowing vegetable seeds
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to slugs and snails and and celery leaf miner
- Disease resistance
- May be susceptible to celery leaf spot