monster volunteer cilantro/coriander plant

This thing popped up during the warm days on March and is now a monster. This has to be five times bigger than any cilantro plant I have tried growing from seed on purpose. :)

The seeds from the monster should be real good to save!

I was thinking the same thing.

ah crap the pictures was rotated from my phone. here is it in it's proper orientation. is this how they typically grow for most people?

It is so tall because it is bolting to seed- Just let it go and watch-as the seed pods turn brown, you will want to collect the seeds- You can tie a plastic bag around a branch to help collect some seeds.

Yea I have collected the seeds before. They smell so good when picking them.

Wow....that is some healthy looking plant. Practically grew through a crack in the decking. Funny plant.

yea it is growing right next to the walkway. No added nutrients or any special soil there. Crazy eh.

No competition from weeds, nice cool moist soil under the pavers, and if you have used the area for pots there may even be some accumulated nutrients (no leaching!) waiting for anything that manages to start.

I had the same sort of experience one time with a culantro (Eryngium foetidum) volunteer - it surprised the heck out of me! They are difficult to start from seed (which are dust-like and don't like drying out), and everything I've read (and my own experience) suggests the plants really prefer at least partial shade. This wildling was growing IN dense grass at the base of a pergola support where it received full sun all day until around 3:30, and since I didn't have anything else planted there it never got watered except by accident. Ididn't even notice it until I went to cut back the overgrown grass. It grew larger than any I have ever grown intentionally.

I think sometimes nature just likes to show us we don't know everything! ;o).

-Rich

I harvested a large portion of the leaves from this thing. Delicious! I left some leaves on there and will wait for it to go to seed now. The temps are going to be pretty cool for a while here so it might produce more leaves for me before going to seed. If I remember correctly, the heat is a big factor that causes these plants to go to seed...

It would be nice if growing bigger also kept it from going to seed too quick. On the other hand - coriander blossoms do attract benificial insects. Either way - save the seed!