Herbs
Tarragon
Artemisia dracunculus
Timings for your region
Suggested: Moderate · Explained in the glossary
Never sown — a root division or a bought plant go straight into the bed.
Plantingearly May – mid June
Harvestmid May – late September
Practical tip
Only French tarragon has real flavour, and it cannot be raised from seed — buy it as a plant or a root division.
Origin & history
Tarragon comes from southern Russia, Central Asia and Siberia and reached Mediterranean cooking through the Arab world in the Middle Ages, where France above all turned it into one of its central kitchen herbs — no sauce béarnaise without it. Botanically it belongs to the genus Artemisia, making it a relative of wormwood and mugwort, an unusual family for a culinary herb. The species name dracunculus means “little dragon” and refers to the coiled, snake-like roots.
Varieties
Two very different plants are sold as tarragon. French tarragon has a fine, distinctly aniseed scent but sets no viable seed — which means every packet of tarragon seed necessarily contains Russian tarragon, coarser and a touch hardier still, but with almost no flavour. When buying, only your nose helps: rub a leaf, and the French type smells intense at once while the Russian stays grassy.
Care
Tarragon wants it warm, sunny and above all free-draining; feed sparingly, because rich soil costs flavour. Cut the shoot tips regularly through the summer or the clump falls apart and goes woody at the base; a hard cut at the end of June brings a second, tender flush. Cut back to a hand’s width in autumn and cover with leaves or brushwood in cold sites — grown in a pot it can simply move to a sheltered house wall.
What can go wrong
It is not the cold that kills it but winter wet: on heavy soil the rootstock rots, and a raised, sandy bed with some grit is the best precaution. Tarragon comes up late in spring, often not before May — so mark the spot and do not dig it over prematurely just because nothing seems to be there. Older clumps go bare in the middle and lose flavour; divide them in spring every three or four years and replant the strong outer pieces. Dense old stands show powdery mildew in late summer — cut back hard, plant further apart and water at the base in the morning.
Harvest, storage & kitchen
Cut young shoot tips, ideally before flowering — afterwards the foliage turns thin and bitter, so it is better to harvest regularly. Drying is not worth it, the aroma almost entirely disappears; freezing it chopped works well, and the classic winter store is whole sprigs in white wine vinegar. In the kitchen it belongs in sauce béarnaise and mustard sauces, with chicken, fish and eggs and in pickled gherkins — always added towards the end of cooking.
All timings are guide values for the given climate, not a guarantee. Weather, aspect and variety all have a say.