Mitsuba Parsley

Italian parsley is grown as an annual/biennial culinary, which means that it usually dies in its second year after it sets seed. That doesn’t make it suitable for my particular application of a perennial food forest so sometimes I decline to grow it, even though a lot of recipes call for it. In comes Mitsuba Parsley, sometimes called wild Japanese parsley, which is a hardy perennial (down to zone 4) that comes back year after year with a similar taste (mitsuba and Italian parsley are cousins) and similar application in cooking. It’s low growing (1 – 3 feet) and suitable for a groundcover, especially since it loves shade and moisture. I have it in my perennial herb box in mostly shade where it happily grows (except for when my ducks were eating it.)

It tolerates a wide range of soils but does need it to be able to hold moisture. Any hotter than zone 9, and the plant gets stunted and will likely die. It’s found in the woodlands of Japan, hence its name. Right now my plant is small, but I’m hoping it will gain some size in the coming years, and I can propagate it by root division (it will also set seed as well.) Unlike Italian parsley, mitsuba stems are tender and also edible! It really is a useful cut and come again herb.