Some vegetables and flowers help each other out when they are grown together; these are called companion plants. Cilantro is an excellent companion plant because its strong aroma will keep bugs away from your asparagus, potatoes, cabbages, leafy greens, and more.

In return for its pest protection, many plants will keep your cilantro healthy. For a really bountiful herb garden, pair your cilantro with plants that will shade the cool-loving herb from the hot sun or others that will feed the soil. There are even some that make your cilantro grow better!

Of course, there are a few plants that shouldn’t be grown with cilantro.

Keep reading to learn all about these planting partners for cilantro.

How Companion Plants Will Help Cilantro (And Your Garden)

Companion planting is when two or more plants are grown together because they form a symbiotic relationship by helping each other out. Not only does this create a diverse and beautiful environment to be in, but is also provides benefits to the plants and garden:

• Biodiversity: Monocropping is one of the most dangerous practices in modern agriculture. Even in a small garden, growing all the same plant opens you up to disease, bugs, and other maladies. Growing companion plants breaks up the monotony and creates a vibrant growing place.
• Harvest Security: I don’t take much to government assisted crop insurance. Instead, I would opt for companion planting, because even if your cilantro fails, will have a second crop to fall back on.
• Shelter: Tall plants protect the little guys by providing shelter from sun and wind.
• Reduce Disease: Pathogens are much less likely to take hold in a diverse environment.
• Trap Or Repel “Pests”: Many companion plant trap, repel, or confuse bad bugs from getting to your main crop.
• Attract Good Bugs: Many companion plants (including cilantro) attract beneficial bugs such as predators (ladybugs, hoverflies, parasitic wasps, lacewings) and pollinators.
• Stimulate Growth: Some plants help others grow faster, and creating a healthy, sheltered environment means your plants will be healthier.
• Build Soil: Some companion plants build soil or add nutrients for the other plants.
• Row Markers: Sow fast germinating seeds with your other seeds to show where the rows are until the slower germinating seeds emerge.
• Better Taste: This is perhaps the most hotly debated topic of companion planting, but many gardeners swear that certain companion plants make others taste better (and there is actually some science to back this up).

Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is grown for both its leaves and its seeds (which are the spice coriander). Many people find the smell and taste repellant and some bugs do, too, making cilantro a valuable companion crop to help the rest of your garden.

As a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae), cilantro is plagued by many of the diseases and insects that beset these plants in the garden and they are a cool season plant so do not do well in the hot summer sun. Thankfully, there are many other plants you can grow to help your cilantro grow better.

Plants That Benefit From Cilantro

Cilantro has a number of benefits itself. Its greatest qualities are that it repels aphids and spider mites to name a few, and it provides food and shelter for many different predatory insects. Not only will cilantro be benefited by other plants, but it will help them in return by:

Potatoes

If you are having trouble with Colorado potato beetles, growing cilantro can help by repelling them. Cilantro’s ability to attract predators has also been found to be very beneficial against Colorado potato beetles, and also

Cilantro also attracts predatory insects that feed on Colorado beetles, and the presence of this herb has been found to significantly improve both potato and eggplant crops.

Plant cilantro around your potatoes, making sure they are set back enough so the young herbs will not be smothered as you hill your spuds.

Brassicas

Brassicas are well known for their “pest problems” since they are beset by many different bugs including aphids, caterpillars, flea beetles, whiteflies, and more.

Cilantro are excellent companion plants for brassicas (including broccoli, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, and more) because they repel many problem bugs with their smell and attract predators once they flower.

As an added bonus, both cilantro and brassicas have similar growing conditions so they are very copasetic, and the cilantro can be planted right between your brassicas.

Leafy Greens

Much like kale and other brassicas, leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, and chard are enjoyed by many different insects. Growing cilantro amongst your greens is a great way to protect them.

Tomatoes

The old companion-planting adage is to grow things together that you eat together, which means tomato and cilantro are a good pair. Cilantro protects tomatoes from insects and its umbel attracts pollinators for the tomato flowers.

In return, large tomato plants, especially vining varieties, will provide shade for cool-loving cilantro.

The big argument against pairing tomatoes and cilantro is that the latter likes nitrogen while the other does not. However, cilantro is a light feeder (meaning it doesn’t use very many nutrients) while tomatoes are heavy feeders, and a healthy dose of compost will provide plenty of nutrients for both without over-fertilizing either one.

Companion Plants For Cilantro

If you want to focus on growing the best cilantro, then here are some great companion plants to help them out:

Alliums

Cilantro are great at repelling insects, but alliums are even better and growing members of the onion family with your cilantro will keep these pests at bay.

These two are great for intercropping as cilantro will be harvested before the alliums which will continue to grow throughout the summer. Any allium will work including scallions (or green onions), red or yellow bulbs, garlic, shallots, or leeks. If you want a perennial option, you can plant your cilantro around your chives.

Anise

Anise is another herb that helps cilantro as a great companion plant. For starters, they both have similar growing conditions which means they can be intersown very successfully.

Both of these herbs are excellent at pest control, but they are both in the same family so make sure to monitor them so they don’t make insect problems worse.

These two also help with germination. There is great debate over whether anise helps cilantro seeds or the other way around, but growth them together and see for yourself.

Asparagus

Asparagus and cilantro are old-school companion plants that are mutually beneficial. Asparagus repels root know nematodes that are common problems among cilantro growers, and any spears that are left to mature will attract beneficial insects and provide shade for the cilantro.

In return, cilantro repels asparagus beetles. Also, the two plants do not compete with each other while growing, and cilantro can be grown amongst your asparagus bed.

Sunflowers And Other Tall Flowers

Sunflowers and other tall flowers such as dahlias, delphiniums, zinnias, or hydrangeas, make excellent shade cover for cilantro. Cilantro is a cool-loving plant that bolts very quickly in the heat, and this is exacerbated by intense sunlight. Some gardeners have found that growing cilantro in the shade can extend its harvest period by several weeks.

On top of everything, these flowers will attract pollinators and other good bugs while beautifying your garden space.

Peas and Beans

Peas, beans and other legumes take nitrogen from the atmosphere, convert it into a form that is usable to plants, then fixes it into the soil. (You can read more about this fascinating process from the Encyclopedia Britannica). When you cilantro is growing close by, it can access this nitrogen and grow lush, green leaves.

Beans and peas will also cast shade over your cilantro, protecting it from the hot sun and extending its growing season. This is especially effective if you grow pole varieties.

Basil

Basil and cilantro work well together to protect themselves and neighbouring garden plants, while protecting each other at the same time.

To make things simple, basil and cilantro like very similar growing environments and prefer similar soil type, sun exposure, moisture level, and more.

The less commonly grown herb chervil can be used in a similar way to basil.

Sweet Alyssum

I don’t think any plant is praised as highly as a companion plant as sweet alyssum. Its beautiful flowers are well known for their natural pest control for countless crops, and if your cilantro has been plagued by annoying insects in the past, then growing sweet alyssum is the best place to start.

And if you are planning on growing cilantro for its coriander seeds, then sweet alyssum will also bring in the pollinators.

Okra

Okra is beset by a number of insects, including whiteflies, thrips, spider mites, aphids, and many others that will be devoured by the beneficial predatory insects drawn to the cilantro flower. At the same time, the large okra will shade the cool-season cilantro for a great symbiosis.

To protect your okra, start the cilantro in the spring for and early season pest prevention, or it can be tucked under the okra where the larger plants will shade the herb. 

Radishes

Radishes have similar growing and watering requirements, and neither like the heat (one bolts and the other becomes hot and woody). Both are also light feeders so they grow together nicely without overly depleting the soil.

Radishes grow quickly so they are a great for succession planting with cilantro. At the same time, they give excellent harvest security in case one or the other of the crops fails.

TIP: Have you ever let radishes mature and flower? They produce a delightfully edible seed pod and the huge plants will shade the cilantro.

What NOT To PlantWith Cilantro

As with anything, somethings just don’t get along. Here are a few plants to avoid growing with cilantro:

• Mediterranean Herbs: Herbs such asromsemary, thyme, or lavender, need full sun and hot, dry conditions which is exactly opposite of what cilantro needs. It would be quite challenging to grow the both together.
• Fennel: Fennel is allelopathic, which means it releases achemical that inhibits the development of neighbouring plants which can really set back your cilantro. Furthermore, they two are in the same family so can create an less-than-ideal monocrop situation.
• Cucumber: Many growers say that cilantro will affect the taste of cucumbers. Also, cucumber and cilantro have quite dissimilar requirements, making them more difficult to cultivate together.
• Carrots: Carrots and cilantro are in the same family so have many of the same enemies (such as carrot flies). Planting them together could make infestations worse.
• Dill: Another close relative, dill and cilantro both attract good bugs, but they also both bring in more bad ones.
• Mint: Cilantro and mint don’t directly affect each other and can grow nicely side by side in pots. In the garden, however, the slower-growing cilantro can easily be choked out by the invasive mint.
• Parsley: Again, parsley is in the same family as cilantro, so any benefits of them having similar requirements could be offset by creating a monoculture.

Conclusion

Gardening is about diversity: grow a whole bunch of the same plant and you are setting yourself up for disaster (the great failure of modern agriculture). But fill your field or even a small garden plot with a smorgasbord of different, and symbiotic, plants and you will naturally have a thriving and health environment.

If this is your first foray into companion planting, then hopefully you have seen how beneficial cilantro can be. If you are a seasoned gardener, then maybe you picked up a few new tidbits to help your garden grow. Either way, we all have something to learn and we should marvel in awe at the wonderous ways the Mother Nature works.