Growing Anise: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Anise is a licorice-flavored seed herb that needs a long season, at least 130 days, to mature its seed, so it’s worth planting as early as the last frost allows rather than waiting.
Fresh seed matters
Direct-seed only, sown in early spring 1 to 2 seeds per inch, a quarter inch deep. Use fresh seed if possible; anise seed loses viability quickly, dropping off noticeably after about two years in storage, unlike many herb seeds that hold up longer on the shelf. Germination takes 6 to 14 days at 70°F. Once seedlings reach 3 inches tall, thin to 6 inches apart.
Staking helps
Plants reach about 24 inches tall and can lodge, or fall over, especially in wind. Staking is worth doing rather than leaving the stand unsupported through a windy or rainy stretch.
Harvest
Harvest as soon as the fruit tips turn gray, before they turn black; waiting too long past that point loses seed quality.
Anise has no recorded companions or antagonists in our data. See the full companion guide for anise for how it’s tracked. At 4 plants per square foot, it needs a full season and an early planting slot in the Garden Designer to reliably mature its seed before frost.
Source: Anise: Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Anise · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. Anise doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Anise plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 4 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1.5-2 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- Straight-species anise (Pimpinella anisum): Johnny's Selected Seeds sells this species plain, without competing named cultivars; it's a spice crop grown for its seed, not a plant with meaningful flavor variation between selections. (source)
Cited from the source shown next to each variety. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.
Where to buy anise seeds
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page also go to other retailers we may earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a genuine consensus of positive, independent reviews. See the sources cited on each item.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing anise" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Anise: A licorice-flavored seed herb that needs a long season, at least 130 days, to mature its seed, so plant it as early as the last frost allows.
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