How to Grow Tarragon USA
On this page
In the US, tarragon is ready to harvest 42–56 days after planting.
Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) — 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
- Ready in
- 42–56 days
- Site
- soil pH 6.5–7
- Biggest risk
- Honey fungus
Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.
Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus)
7 sources cited · Verified
Soil & Growing Conditions
Growth Stages
Quick Facts
At a Glance
Harvest & Storage
Diseases
Plan your Tarragon planting
When to sow and plant Tarragon depends on your own frost dates. Check the USA vegetable planting calendar. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.
Growing Tarragon in another region
Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
Sources
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Perennial for USDA zones 3a-8b, 1-3ft tall and 1-1.5ft wide; space 12in-3ft apart. Full sun. Wants neutral soil (pH 6.0-8.0) with good drainage or very dry conditions -- plants may decline through wet, humid summers. FRENCH TARRAGON (A. dracunculus "Sativa"), the culinary form, RARELY FLOWERS, so it cannot be raised from seed and must be propagated vegetatively by division, root cuttings or stem cuttings; anything sold as tarragon seed is the inferior Russian form. Remove flower buds, dead-head and prune in mid to late summer to rejuvenate growth, cut plants to the ground each spring, and divide clumps every 2-4 years. Main problem: root or crown rot in moist, poorly drained soil.
These 2 sources are specific to this region. The full list of 7 sources behind this guide (FAO EcoCrop, GBIF, NC State Extension and others) is in the references of our UK guide to tarragon; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does tarragon take to grow?
Typically 42–56 days, depending on cultivar and growing conditions.
What soil pH does tarragon need?
A pH of about 6.5–7. 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 tarragon?
Our data links 3 diseases to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.
Plan next season before the problems start
Almost everything on this page resolves to your own frost dates rather than the calendar — the last spring frost moves by roughly two months between zone 3 and zone 10. The USA Garden Planner works from your zone so the timing is already decided before the season starts.
Get the USA Garden Planner →Instant PDF download · Written for US growing conditions
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 USDA hardiness-zone and frost-date data, with Cooperative Extension sources cited directly where one exists for a crop. 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.
Related Problem Guides
Last verified 2026-09-02
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Growing advice for your part of the USA
Timing and conditions change a lot inside one country. These guides cover frost dates and growing seasons region by region.
Where To Go From Here
Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.
Keep going
Plan the next step
Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.