Scottish growing tool

Angelica Variety Selector: Which One For Your Garden

Every recommendation below traces back to our full Angelica varieties comparison — this page is the fast route to one answer for your specific situation, no clicking through required.

If: Cook with it → Keep it compact, around 1.5 to 2.5m or Cook with it → Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice or Grow it for looks or wildlife → Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice or Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice

Angelica archangelica

The classic culinary species and the best overall pick for most Scottish gardens: fully hardy (H6, down to -20C), with softer, more tender stems and leaves that make it the easiest of the group to actually cook with.

If: Cook with it → I've got space for something bigger, up to 4m

Angelica edulis

Shares the same culinary uses as archangelica, candied stems, flavouring for liqueurs, pairing with rhubarb and stewed fruit, but is the outlier for scale, reaching up to 4m on a hollow stem, so it needs more space and is worth staking in an exposed site.

If: Grow it for looks or wildlife → Most dramatic flowers

Angelica gigas

Ornamental rather than culinary, with the most dramatic flowers of any form: domed umbels in deep purple-plum rather than the greenish-white typical of the genus, and it draws pollinators well.

If: Grow it for looks or wildlife → Small border, limited space

Angelica sylvestris 'Ebony'AGM

Stays under a metre tall with near-black divided foliage that carries the display even before the pink-grey flowers open, the better choice for a small border where the full-size species would swamp everything else; it's the only one of the six forms to hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

If: Grow it for looks or wildlife → Wildlife or meadow planting

Angelica sylvestris

The true wild form, tolerant of a broader range of soil conditions than the cultivated forms, and it flowers later in the season, late summer to early autumn, when many other carrot-family plants are past their best, suiting wildlife or meadow planting.

If: Grow it for looks or wildlife → A middle-height ornamental

Angelica sylvestris 'Vicar's Mead'

Bridges the gap between 'Ebony' and the full-size wild species at 1 to 1.5m, with large pink-purple flower heads on upright purple stems, a middle-height ornamental option.

Answer these as a quick wizard instead →

Angelica growing guide →Full Angelica varieties comparison →