How to Grow and Care for Celery and Marshwort

Wild celery (Apium graveolens) is an herbaceous plant that can be found growing throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. It is a popular edible crop that is often harvested for agricultural purposes, yielding the common vegetable known simply as celery. Wild celery leaves have been found in an Egyptian pharaoh's tomb, although experts believe that it grew naturally and are not sure if it was farmed and cultivated at the time.

Prostrate marshwort is a mat-forming plant that prefers a sunny location and moist soil. Its small white flowers bloom from June to August and attract beneficial insects to the garden. Beware, as it can be toxic to livestock if they consume large quantities of it.

Celeriac is a popular vegetable that is actually a hybrid of celery. It differs dramatically from its parent because of its large edible root. It has little ornamental appeal but is a common feature of vegetable gardens, prized for its nutty flavor. It is more frost-hardy and resistant to disease than its parent plant.

This cultivar is unique in the flavor of the celery that it produces. While some varieties of celery have a stringiness to them and a more bitter flavor, the celery produced by the wild celery 'Golden Self-blanching' is thick, juicy, deeply ribbed, and crisp, with a sweet flavor. This cultivar is strongly resistant to diseases and self-blanches, hence its name.

Apium prostratum var. filiforme (Apium prostratum var. filiforme) is a water-loving herb, with the "apium" in its name deriving from the Celtic word for "ditch", one of its typical habitats. It is found in New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania, where it is sometimes eaten as a celery substitute. It produces clusters of tiny white flowers from summer through early fall.