When to plant Cilantro
Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.
Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.
Representative timing, by climate band
When to plant Cilantro in four US climates
Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.
| Stage |
Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY |
Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN |
Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start seed indoors | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Direct-sow outside | Mar 25–Jun 3 | Feb 24–May 5 | Jan 13–Mar 24 | – |
| Transplant outside | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Fall planting | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Expected harvest | May 14–Jul 28 | Apr 15–Jun 29 | Mar 4–May 18 | – |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a semi hardy crop. In climates like this one, hardy and semi-hardy crops typically go in during the cooler months (fall through late winter), not on a frost-relative schedule.
Cilantro goes straight into the ground; it isn't started indoors and moved, because University of Maryland Extension says coriander and cilantro "do not transplant well" (Care of Herbs and Starting Herbs from Seed). NC State Extension's Central North Carolina calendar (AG-756-01) puts the direct-sow window at six weeks before your last frost through four weeks after it, with harvest 50 to 55 days later.
That window runs wide because cilantro bolts fast once summer heat arrives, per Clemson Cooperative Extension's Herbs factsheet (HGIC 1311); an early, cool-weather sowing buys more harvest time before the plant goes to seed than a late one does.
Cilantro is a common fall crop in many gardens, but none of our three sources gives a numbered fall-planting window for it, so that field on this page is blank rather than filled with a guessed date. Because it resents transplanting, it's sold at the nursery as seed, not as a started plug; buy seed and sow it where it will grow.
Frost hardiness
Semi-hardy. Tolerates light frost. Best planted close to the last frost date.
Days to maturity
50–55
Sourcing notes
Direct-sown only; UMD: coriander/cilantro 'do not transplant well.' NCSU Central NC calendar: sow Mar 1-May 15 (region's last frost ~mid-Apr, so ~6 wk before to ~4 wk after frost), 50-55 days to harvest. Clemson: bolts quickly in summer heat, so spring window is short. No sourced numeric fall-planting window found for cilantro despite it being a common cool-season fall crop elsewhere; left blank rather than guessed.
Related crops
Growing zones for this crop
Nurseries near these locations
Sources
- Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center, Herbs (HGIC 1311) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- NC State Extension, Central North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs (AG-756-01) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- University of Maryland Extension, Care of Herbs and Starting Herbs from Seed (accessed 2026-08-04)