The best north facing window herb picks are herbs that can cope better with less intense natural light than plants that strongly prefer bright sun.
That doesn't mean a north facing window is automatically ideal for growing herbs.
It also doesn't mean “low light” is the same as darkness.
A large unobstructed north facing window can provide considerably more useful daylight than a small window shaded by another building.
The sensible approach is to start with herbs that are more tolerant of imperfect light, keep them close to the window and watch how they actually grow.
When choosing north facing window herb picks, look for plants that don't demand the strongest possible indoor light just to produce useful growth.
Good candidates should still receive as much daylight as your window can provide.
The aim isn't to find herbs that “don't need light.”
There really aren't culinary herbs that fit that description.
Instead, we're looking for plants that are generally more realistic candidates when direct sunlight is limited.
For many apartment growers, mint, parsley, chives, lemon balm and cilantro are reasonable places to start.
Mint is one of the first herbs worth considering when your natural light isn't perfect.
Its vigorous growth can make it more forgiving than herbs that demand very bright conditions.
Keep it close to the window rather than assuming it will be happy deep inside the room.
Then watch the new growth.
If stems become very long, thin and stretched toward the glass, the plant is telling you that the location may still be too dim.
Mint's vigor also means it is usually easier to manage in its own container rather than sharing a pot with slower-growing herbs.
Parsley is another practical candidate for a window that doesn't receive intense direct sun.
It may grow more slowly than it would in stronger light, but steady healthy growth matters more than speed.
Give it the brightest position available at the window and avoid repeatedly moving it around simply because it isn't growing as dramatically as mint.
Watch the new leaves.
Reasonably sturdy fresh growth is a much better indicator than expecting the plant to expand rapidly.
Chives are compact, which makes them especially convenient for a windowsill.
They can be another reasonable herb to try where light is less intense.
Keep the pot close to the glass and watch whether the new leaves remain reasonably sturdy.
Weak, floppy or strongly leaning growth suggests the plant would benefit from more light.
Because chives take up relatively little horizontal space, they're also easy to position in the brightest part of a crowded windowsill.
Lemon balm's vigorous leafy growth makes it another candidate worth considering.
As with mint, tolerance of less-than-perfect conditions doesn't mean it should be placed in a dark corner.
Give it the best available window position.
Regular harvesting can help keep the plant compact as it grows.
If the stems become increasingly long and weak, reassess the amount of useful light reaching the plant.
Cilantro can also be worth trying when you don't have the strongest indoor sunlight.
Its growing pattern is different from a long-lived mint plant, so don't expect one cilantro plant to provide an endless harvest.
The important question for this page is whether it can produce useful leafy growth in the conditions you have.
Keep it close to the available light and judge the new growth rather than relying only on the window's compass direction.
Basil is extremely popular indoors, but it generally rewards stronger light.
That doesn't mean basil can never grow beside a north facing window.
A very bright, unobstructed north facing window may perform much better than the label suggests.
But if your window is genuinely dim, basil wouldn't be my first choice for proving that the location can support herbs.
Start with more tolerant candidates.
If you particularly want basil and the plant repeatedly becomes weak and stretched, supplemental lighting may be a more practical solution than continuing to move it around the same dim window.
This is the most important qualification in the whole article.
Two north facing windows can provide very different growing conditions.
Consider:
That's why window light for indoor herbs is better judged from the actual location than from compass direction alone.
When natural light is already limited, don't waste the best part of it by placing the plant unnecessarily far into the room.
A windowsill is the obvious option.
A narrow shelf or plant stand immediately beside the window can work too.
The farther the herb moves away from the window, the less useful the available daylight may become.
If several pots are competing for the same space, give the best positions to the plants showing the greatest need for light.
Your herbs will help you decide whether the experiment is working.
Watch for:
One imperfect leaf doesn't prove anything.
Look at the pattern of new growth.
If several plants consistently stretch toward the glass, the growing location may simply need more light.
There comes a point where choosing increasingly shade-tolerant plants isn't the answer.
Maybe you want to grow basil.
Maybe your north facing window is heavily obstructed.
Or perhaps winter reduces the available daylight enough that previously healthy herbs begin struggling.
That's exactly the kind of limitation where grow lights for culinary herbs become useful.
A compact grow light can supplement the window rather than forcing you to abandon the location entirely.
If you want to experiment with a north facing window, keep the first setup simple.
1. Choose two or three realistic herbs.
Mint, parsley or chives are sensible candidates to consider.
2. Put them close to the window.
Don't begin several meters into the room.
3. Keep each herb in a suitable draining container.
Separate pots make individual adjustments easier.
4. Observe the new growth.
Look for healthy leaves rather than simply asking whether the plants remain alive.
5. Compare how the herbs respond.
One may clearly perform better than another.
6. Add supplemental light only when it solves a genuine problem.
That small experiment tells you much more about your particular window than a compass direction alone.
Good north facing window herb picks aren't magical plants that grow without useful light.
They're herbs that give you a more realistic starting point when your window doesn't receive strong direct sun.
Try mint, parsley, chives, lemon balm or cilantro.
Keep them close to the available daylight.
Watch the quality of the new growth.
And if the plants still stretch and weaken, improve the light rather than blaming yourself or endlessly replacing the herbs.
For a deeper look at how windows behave, see Window Light for Indoor Herbs.
For herbs selected specifically for less-than-perfect light, see Low Light Herbs That Thrive.
For the overall placement strategy, return to Indoor Herb Light and Placement.