Tarragon Russian

If you have ever lost French tarragon to a wet British winter, this is the answer. Russian tarragon lacks the intense aniseed punch of its French cousin, but it makes up for it in sheer resilience — native to the Siberian steppes and effectively indestructible here.

The distinction matters when you are buying seed. French tarragon is sterile and cannot be grown from seed at all; anything sold as tarragon seed is the Russian type. It is taller, bushier and far more generous, with a milder, grassier flavour.

It prefers poor dry ground and gets floppy in rich soil. Cut it back by half in July for a fresh flush of tender leaves, and it will come back faithfully every spring for years.