How to Grow Lovages

By the SoilCommander Editorial Team, under the guidance of Nitin Sharma, Co-Founder · · How we check our facts

On this page
  1. Lovage (Levisticum officinale)
  2. Soil & Growing Conditions
  3. Growth Stages
  4. Quick Facts
  5. At a Glance
  6. Harvest & Storage
  7. Diseases
  8. Pests
  9. Plan your Lovages planting
  10. Growing Lovage in another region
  11. Sources
  12. Frequently Asked Questions

Lovage (Levisticum officinale) — perennial.

Unlike an annual crop, the work here is front-loaded into establishment: get the planting and the site right and the same plants crop for several seasons.

The short answer

Site
soil pH 6–7
Biggest risk
Celery leaf spot

Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.

Lovage (Levisticum officinale)

A tall flowering lovage plant in a walled garden — “Lovage Levisticum officinale Easton Lodge Gardens walled garden” by Acabashi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

8 sources cited · Verified

Soil & Growing Conditions

Lovage flower buds emerging among the foliage
Lovage flower buds emerging among the foliage. Photo by terri_bateman, CC0.

Soil pH range

6 7

Span reflects genuine variation between the cited authorities, not a single agreed figure.

Growth Stages

A mass of lovage foliage
A mass of lovage foliage. Photo by Kritzolina, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Stage BBCH Notes
Propagation 0 Propagate by seed or division in spring (RHS).
Spring leaf flush 3 Produces a flush of edible, celery-scented leaves in spring (RHS).
Flowering 6 Sends up flower stalks reaching up to 2m tall by mid- to late summer, with yellow-green flowers (RHS).
Die-back and dormancy 9 Dies down in late autumn and resprouts the following spring (RHS).

Quick Facts

Detail of lovage's yellow-green flower umbels
Detail of lovage's yellow-green flower umbels. Photo: “Levisticum officinale by Danny S. - 001” by Danny Steven S., CC BY-SA 3.0.
Factor Value
Soil pH 6 - 7
Optimal growing temp 12-18°C
Minimum survivable temp -10°C
Drainage Moist but well-drained
Lifecycle perennial
Edible parts leaves, seeds

At a Glance

A tall flowering lovage plant in a walled garden
A tall flowering lovage plant in a walled garden. Photo by Acabashi, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Levisticum officinale Lovage Celery leaf spot Slugs Snails Celery leaf miner (cele… DISEASES PESTS

Harvest & Storage

Close-up of celery-scented lovage leaves
Close-up of celery-scented lovage leaves. Photo by Schlaghecken Josef, CC BY 4.0.

When to pick: RHS: from seed, "you can start harvesting a few leaves in their second year"; "newly-bought young plants can usually be lightly cropped in their first summer"; harvest "young leaves regularly in spring and summer"; "stop picking the leaves once plants start to flower in late summer, as they turn bitter".

Storage

Best used fresh; can be dried

Diseases

Close-up of celery-scented lovage leaves
Close-up of celery-scented lovage leaves. Photo by Schlaghecken Josef, CC BY 4.0.
Celery leaf spot

Septoria apiicola

Pests

A mass of lovage foliage
A mass of lovage foliage. Photo by Kritzolina, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Slugs

Gastropoda (slugs, various spp.)

Snails

Gastropoda (snails, various spp.)

Celery leaf miner (celery fly)

Euleia heraclei

Plan your Lovages planting

Timing for Lovages follows soil temperature and frost, not the calendar date. The Global vegetable planting calendar explains the method. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.

Growing Lovage in another region

Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.

Sources

These 2 sources are specific to this region. The full list of 8 sources behind this guide (AHDB, FAO EcoCrop, GBIF and others) is in the references of our UK guide to lovage; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What soil pH does lovage need?

A pH of about 6–7. That span reflects genuine variation between the authorities we cite rather than a single agreed figure — the References section lists each source's exact range.

What problems affect lovage?

Our data links 1 disease and 3 pests to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.

Plan next season before the problems start

This page gives you the thresholds; the planner turns them into your own calendar. It works from what you can observe and measure in your garden rather than from dates written for somebody else’s latitude.

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SoilCommander Editorial Team — under the guidance of Nitin Sharma, Co-Founder

Every growing guide is checked against RHS, USDA Cooperative Extension, and other named horticultural authorities before publishing. How we check our facts.

How this guide is put together

The growing data on this page — sowing windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against international horticultural research and extension sources. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.

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Last verified 2026-08-29

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