11 Herbs You Can Grow Indoors in Low Light

Herbal plants have special compounds in their leaves that give them unique aromas. Think of the smell of lavender, a classic woody herb. It fills your nostrils with its scent, helping you stay calm and serene. With indoor herbal plants in containers, you’ll have these pleasing scents available anytime.

Not all herbs tolerate the low light of indoor environments. They often need lots of sunlight to create tasty flavors and sweet-smelling aromas. One way to help is to harvest them regularly—this keeps them compact, bushy, and low-growing. The healthier your specimens are, the more leaves they’ll produce. Keep them in tip-top shape for the best-tasting herbs.

All plants need light, no matter how tolerant they are of low light conditions. Dark corners, windowless rooms, and closets aren’t ideal for your herbs. The lowest-lit condition you should use is near a window with indirect sunlight. Fear not, as we’ll explore a few herbs to try growing indoors if your home has low light exposure.  

Chervil

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Parsley

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Can Herbs Grow in Low Light?

Herbs can grow under low light, although they’ll need some support to perform their best. If your growing room has no windows or outdoor plants block most sunrays, your herbs may appreciate grow lights to supplement their lighting. Grow lights turn any dark room into a well-lit indoor garden. They use similar light frequencies as the sun, creating ideal conditions for plants like mint, culantro, and cilantro.

Set your grow lights on a timer for easy cultivation so you won’t have to turn them on and off every day. Set your timer to twelve hours on and twelve hours off in winter, and leave them on for longer during spring and summer. By changing the “on” hours, you simulate outdoor daylengths so your plants grow well throughout the year. 

If your home has windows with bright indirect light, you’re in luck! Some herbs will grow their best with bright indirect light all day, while others thrive with more light up to full sun conditions. Give your plants as much light as possible, and monitor them to ensure they’re performing their best. It took me many tries to find ideal locations for my indoor herbs, and it may take some experimenting to find the best low light spot in your home.

Low Light Tolerant Herbs

Now that we know how much light our herbs need, we can move on to the fun part of picking the best species! I recommend choosing herbs you use regularly, that way you’ll have a steady supply for your culinary and tea-making needs. 

Peppermint

	botanical name Mentha x piperita
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1-3’
	hardiness zones 5-9

Peppermint fills your nostrils with minty fragrance when you pass by it. This is the famous mint that flavors candy canes, toothpaste, and tea blends. It tends to be unruly outdoors, growing thick underground rhizomes that creep into nearby plants. Grow it indoors in a container and you’ll limit its spread while still enjoying its herbal benefits.

Peppermint may grow leggy in extremely low light conditions. You’ll notice lengthy stems with few leaves, and they’ll reach for the light. Move your specimen closer to the window and prune it back to help it stay compact. The more you pinch its stems, the bushier it’ll become.

Mint is unlike most other herbs, growing readily from cuttings, divisions, or seeds. Use whichever starting method is easiest for you and your setup. Easily root cuttings in a glass of water, then up-pot them into containers with soil. Seeds may not grow true to type, and cuttings or divisions are the surest ways of propagating clones.

Spearmint

	botanical name Mentha spicata
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1-2’
	hardiness zones 4-9

Spearmint is one of the parent plants of the hybrid peppermint! It’s less cooling than peppermint, although its flavor is one of the best for all mints. Grow this type if you like to use this herb in sauces, tabbouleh, or tea blends. Whether fresh or dried, it gives off a pleasant aroma that lends excellent flavor to whatever you add it to. 

Your spearmint may flower in summer when it grows near a window receiving natural light. The blossoms are edible, although they’re lighter tasting than the leaves. Cut them off before they open so your plant redirects its energy towards producing more leaves. You may leave the blossoms if you’d like to use them for bouquets, infusions, or tea.

Start spearmint plants from cuttings or divisions, since most mint seedlings won’t grow like their parent plant. Root cuttings in a water glass, or strip them of their lower leaves and pot them in moist soil. They’ll root after two or more weeks with steady exposure to low light and moisture.

Chocolate Mint

	botanical name Mentha x piperita f. citrata ‘Chocolate’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1-2’
	hardiness zones 5-9

Chocolate lovers must try growing this mint! It’s a bergamot mint with a distinct chocolate flavor and aroma. It grows like bergamot mint, with small oval leaves and white-pink blossoms. With an indoor specimen, you’ll have ready chocolate essence to add to desserts, drinks, and recipes. Place a few leaves in your hot cocoa for a minty, chocolate blend!

Chocolate mint thrives under low light conditions outdoors so long as it receives between two and six hours of direct sunlight. When your indoor space has bright indirect light all day, or more than two hours of direct sunlight, your specimens will fare well. If there’s less light exposure than these scenarios, you might consider adding grow lights to your setup.

Like any of the garden mints, this type requires divisions or cuttings to propagate true to form. Find a plant that a neighbor, friend, or family member has to take cuttings or source potted plants from nursery retailers. 

Cat Grass

	botanical name Avena sativa
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 2-8”
	hardiness zones 7-11

Cat grass is a blend of oats that form tender, green shoots indoors. It’s the perfect indoor herb for kitty lovers who want to introduce fiber and vitamins into their pets’ diets. Leave a pot of cat grass around your kitties’ food bowls, and they’ll start snacking on it during mealtime. 

This herb is perfect for indoor locations with low light, as too much sunlight can make the grass grow tough and chewy for kitties. The grass is ready to eat when it reaches two to four inches. You may trim it if it grows too leggy to encourage more grass shoots.

The best way to have a continuous supply of cat grass is to sow seeds every two to three weeks. Use a small container so that you conserve your seed supply. After about three weeks, the grass loses energy and struggles indoors. With successive sowings, you’ll never run out of fresh grass for your fur babies. 

Common Chives

	botanical name Allium schoenoprasum
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 12-18”
	hardiness zones 4-8

Chives are perennial onions that form slender, green shoots. The leaves have a milder flavor than onions; they have the pungent taste of onions but are sweeter with hints of honey. The purple flowers are edible like the leaves but with more sweetness! Grow chives indoors if you live outside of its hardiness range, or if you’d like ready access to onion flavor without needing to go into the yard.

Because they’re perennial, you can plant chives seeds once and have harvestable onion leaves for years. If your plants grow leggy, lack new shoots, or exhibit yellowing leaves, move them to a brighter location or add grow lights above them. This is an excellent kitchen windowsill herb—it adds freshness to salads, soups, and dishes like baked potatoes. 

Start chives from seeds or dig up a cluster from a nearby plant. Mature specimens form new bunches near their perimeter with separate roots. Dig them up and divide them from the mother plant, then transplant them into pots with fertile, well-draining potting soil.

Garlic Chives

	botanical name Allium tuberosum
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 18”
	hardiness zones 3-9

Garlic chives are another perennial onion with delicious, sweet leaves and flowers. Their flowers are white instead of lavender-pink and are milder tasting than the leaves. Use the shoots, buds, and flowers fresh in dishes, or cook them in sautés, scrambles, and stews. 

These chives prefer similar conditions to those of common chives, although they’re more frost and drought-tolerant than their relatives. Grow them in containers near cool windows and they’ll thrive throughout the seasons. Use seeds to start them, or find potted plants available from spring through fall.

Garlic chives sprout their white flowers from spring through summer, and your plant may bloom if it’s happy indoors. Consider bringing the container into the garden if it’s warm and sunny outdoors. The blooms attract beneficial pollinating insects that appreciate free nectar and pollen! 

Parsley

	botanical name Petroselinum crispum
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 8-14”
	hardiness zones 2-11

Parsley is an annual herb essential for many dishes from multiple cultures. It adds a special flavor unlike any other herb; dust it in tabbouleh, salads, pasta, pizza, and stromboli. Because it’s an annual herb, it’ll grow easily indoors and be slow to flower, meaning you’ll have parsley for longer without successive sowing.

Indoor parsley may reach for the light if it’s in too dark of a room. Leggy plants are still edible, although they’ll be slow-growing. Harvest their outer leaves first and allow the inner ones to continue sprouting and photosynthesizing. 

Start parsley from seeds in containers at least six to eight inches deep. The seedlings appreciate fertile, moist soil, but they’ll rot if it’s soggy. Use the finger test to know how often to water. Simply place your pointer finger into the pot and see if you sense moisture below the surface. If it’s moist, hold off on watering. If it’s dry, water aplenty until it comes out the bottom of the pot. 

Cilantro

	botanical name Coriandrum sativum
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1-2’
	hardiness zones 2-11

Cilantro, or coriander, is an annual herb that matures similarly to parsley. It germinates in mild, cool weather and bolts once the days lengthen and temperatures warm. The leaves lend a pungent essence fresh in dishes, and the seeds make the ground spice coriander. Use a slow-bolting variety for foliage, or a quick-bolting one if you prefer the seeds for spice. 

Cilantro is an annual that dies after forming seeds. Collect and save these seeds for an endless supply of this herb. They’ll sprout readily when the soil temperature sits between 55-68°F (13-20°C). Keep their roots moist but not soggy, and give them enough light to stay perky, green, and juicy.

Outdoor cilantro blooms attract pollinating insects like honeybees. Place your flowering specimens outside while they bloom, and the bees will pollinate the flowers. After successful pollination, they’ll morph into seeds for easy collecting. Store dry seeds in a cool, dark location, and they’ll last a year or longer. 

Culantro

	botanical name Eryngium foetidum
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1’
	hardiness zones 7-12

Culantro is an herbal replacement for cilantro with a stronger flavor and more cookable structure. It resists wilting in soups, stews, and marinades, injecting delicious cilantro-esque essence into your recipes. It’s lower growing than cilantro and forms a rosette of long leaves with rounded tips. They’ll send up flowers with white blossoms in summer that resemble other Eryngium species’ blooms.

Because culantro tastes stronger than cilantro, you’ll want to sub every portion of cilantro for a half portion or less of culantro. The leaves are tough, and cutting them finely or blending them in dishes helps increase their edibility. 

Culantro starts readily from seeds and is a short-lived perennial. Grow it indoors for an easily accessible and pungent cilantro-like flavor, no matter how cold or hot it is outdoors. 

Lemon Balm

	botanical name Melissa officinalis
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1-2’
	hardiness zones 3-7

Tea lovers need lemon balm in their lives! This herb sprouts lemony leaves that lend excellent herbal flavor to tea blends, syrups, and desserts. The dry leaves hold onto their fragrance for many months in long-term storage, so you can harvest them in fall, and they’ll last throughout winter.

If you’d prefer fresh lemon balm year-round, grow it indoors in a pot instead! You’ll have lemony leaves no matter how extreme the weather is outdoors. Lemon balm sprouts rapidly from seeds, meaning you can have a plant indoors and bring it outdoors when it flowers. After successful pollination, collect and store the tiny black seeds as a backup in case your potted specimen dies. 

Lemon balm is an aggressive sprouter, sending new shoots from hardy underground roots. Growing it in a planter is ideal for limiting its spread. You’ll enjoy its scent and taste without having to manage its unruly invasive nature. Harvest plants by trimming their stems to encourage dense, bushy new growth.

Chervil

	botanical name Anthriscus cerefolium
	sun requirements Full sun to full shade
	height 1-2’
	hardiness zones 6-9

Chervil resembles parsley but is in a different genera than the herb. Some growers call it French parsley because of its similar look. Grow it as an annual for its fresh foliage, or let it sprout biennially so you can collect seeds and sow more seedlings. Indoor chervil will grow a long time without bolting, making it a superb herb for your low light garden.

Chervil foliage has a slight hint of licorice flavor in it with a subtle essence of parsley. It’s ideal for flavoring meats, vegetables, and roasts. Dry the leaves and they’ll crumble easily into your meals. Otherwise, the fresh foliage works well in butter or oil infusions, scrambles, and herbal salads.

Start chervil seedlings from seeds. They need light to germinate, so give them direct sunlight or grow lights while young. Older specimens survive in low light; if they exhibit yellow leaves or slow growth, consider moving them to a brighter location. Ensure their soil stays moist, not soggy, and they’ll thrive for many months in your home.