Crop type: Celery
Apium graveolens var. dulce ‘Loretta’
Common name: Celery ‘Loretta’
Crop slug: celery
This Allotment Pro editorial draft summarises the cited RHS cultivar profile. Check the source and adjust cultivation decisions for local conditions.RHS cultivar profile
1 - Overview
‘Loretta’ is a vigorous self-blanching celery, botanically biennial but normally cropped as an annual. Large, shiny, bright-green divided leaves rise above smooth, thick and fleshy leaf stalks that shade from pale green to white. The crunchy stems have a sweet flavour and the plant produces generous crops.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 0.1–0.5 metres
- Ultimate spread
- 0.1–0.5 metres
- Time to ultimate size
- 1 year
It reaches harvestable size within one growing season.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Clay and loam
- Moisture
- Moist but well-drained or poorly drained
- Soil pH
- Acid, neutral or alkaline
Keep the soil continuously moist to support thick, crisp stalk development.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun or partial shade
- Aspect
- East-, south- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- Hardiness
- H2 — tolerant of low temperatures but not surviving frost
Use a sheltered block and avoid exposing young plants or mature stalks to frost.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
No seasonal colour values are assigned. The crop has shiny bright-green divided foliage and smooth fleshy stalks graduating from pale green to white.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Apiaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Habit
- Clump-forming
- Name status
- Accepted
- Potentially harmful
- Plant sap may harm skin in sunlight; wear gloves and protective clothing when handling
Genus
Apium contains annual, biennial and perennial herbs with divided or pinnate leaves and tiny white summer flowers arranged in umbels.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Sow seed in containers in spring, pot seedlings on once large enough to handle, then plant outdoors in late spring or early summer. Set self-blanching plants in a close block so they shade one another. Keep them moist at all times and harvest from late summer to mid-autumn.
Propagation
Propagate by seed.
Pruning
No pruning is required.
Pests
Plants may be susceptible to slugs and snails.
Diseases
Plants may be susceptible to celery leaf spot.