15 Best Lettuce Varieties to Grow from Seed
Lettuce is one of the best crops to start from seed, even for beginner gardeners. They grow quickly and are useful in the kitchen in fresh salads or sandwiches. Gardening expert Madison Moulton lists 15 of the best lettuce varieties to grow from seed.
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Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced gardener with many years under your belt, there’s one thing you should have on your planting list every year: lettuce.
This crop is super versatile in the kitchen, so you’ll never run out of ways to use your harvest. The heads are compact enough to fit between other plants, or you can pop some of the smaller ones into containers. Best of all, they’re incredibly easy to grow from seed.
In this list, you’ll find 15 of the best lettuce varieties that grow reliably from seed. If you’re looking for butterhead, crisphead, romaine, or leaf types, you’ll find what you’re looking for here.
Marvel of Four Seasons Butterhead Lettuce
Marvel of Four Seasons Butterhead Lettuce Seeds
Buttercrunch
Buttercrunch lettuce is a favorite in the kitchen for good reason. This butterhead lettuce variety (evident in the name) has been around since 1963, remaining popular for its delicious flavor and smooth texture. The leaves make an ideal base for fresh summer salads.
Thanks to its compact size, these small heads are great for growing in containers. You can also use them to fill gaps between veggies, where taller plants can provide some protective afternoon shade.
Marvel of Four Seasons
If you like butterheads but also want a pop of color in your vegetable garden, Marvel of Four Seasons is a great choice. It has more ornamental value than some of the utilitarian varieties, a benefit it brings to your dishes in the kitchen, too.
An heirloom originating from France, you may see it labeled Merveille de Quatre Saisons. The texture leaves are a rich red color, growing outward in a rosette pattern that looks like a large edible flower. These rosettes are 8″ to 12″ in diameter, giving you plenty to work with after harvesting.
Australe
The final butterhead on this list stands out from the rest for its interesting color. The ruffled leaves are mostly green but have a bronze hue at the tips. Don’t panic if you see a color change—it’s just part of the look.
Australe leaves have the same buttery texture you may expect from a butterhead lettuce, but the head has a more upright habit, similar to a romaine (which we’ll look at next). They make excellent baby greens and retain the interesting leaf coloring, even when harvested early.
Vivian
Romaine lettuces are known for their juicy leaves and crisp texture, and Vivian is no different. These heads stand out in the garden for their impressive height, reaching up to 16″ tall in the right conditions.
There are plenty of leaves in the tightly packed heads, making the perfect base for a crisp Caesar salad. Or, you can use individual leaves as a replacement for traditional wraps—they’re certainly big enough. This lettuce variety is easy to grow from seed, grows quickly, and is resistant to bolting, ideal for beginners.
Little Gem
The name of this lettuce variety is very fitting, appreciated for its compact size and sweet flavor. Little Gem is a mini-romaine, slotting well into containers or empty spots in your vegetable garden. You can also dot them amongst your flower beds to create an edible landscape.
Each head is only 6″ tall and 4″ wide. They essentially come in the perfect size for an individual salad, doing all the portioning for you. Or use the leaves to fill your sandwiches. The full heads will be ready to harvest in just over two months, or you can grow them as baby greens.
Parris Island Cos
Parris Island Cos has everything you want from a lettuce: crisp texture, sweet flavor, and great size. The heads grow 10″ to 12″ tall, with individual leaves that are perfect for wraps. Or, thinly slice them to create a fresh, crunchy base for your next salad.
This variety was developed by the USDA and Clemson University around 1950 and named after Parris Island in South Carolina. This popular favorite has stood the test of time and is beloved by gardeners for its adaptability and disease resistance.
Truchas
Another mini-romaine like Little Gem, Truchas is largely grown for its bright color. The leaves are a deep purple-red, contrasting well with the bright green lettuce varieties grown from seed on this list. If you want to bring some color to your leaf salad mixes, this is the plant to do it.
Truchas is a great choice for beginner gardeners thanks to its disease resistance. You generally won’t have to worry about downy mildew, die-back, and mosaic virus when growing this lettuce variety. Its compact size and container-friendly nature are further bonuses.
Rouge d’Hiver
Sticking with red lettuce varieties to grow from seed, the last romaine on the list is Rouge d’Hiver. If you know a little French, the clue is in the name. It translates to red winter, explaining its stand-out color and cold tolerance. If you live in a cooler climate, this is an ideal crop to grow in your vegetable garden.
This heirloom has been around since the 19th century and remains popular today. Use the leaves in a mix for salads or to fill fresh sandwiches. It also makes a beautiful baby green thanks to its color.
Ice Queen
Onto crisphead lettuce varieties, we come to Ice Queen. The name describes its cold-tolerant nature, much like Rouge d’Hiver. However, this versatile crop is also heat resistant and slow to bolt, ensuring you’ll have little trouble growing it no matter where you live.
The most eye-catching feature of Ice Queen is its frilly leaves. They ruffle out from a tightly packed center to add wonderful texture to your vegetable garden. You can harvest a few of these outer leaves during the season while you wait for the heads to fully form.
Great Lakes 118
This iceberg lettuce is a classic, delicious in just about any dish you would think to use lettuce in. The leaves are large and juicy, forming into a tight head ready to harvest in just under three months after planting from seed. If you’re feeling impatient, you can also grow it as a baby green.
Great Lakes 118 was designed as an improvement on the popular Great Lakes variety, developed in the 1960s. It is heat tolerant and bolt resistant, ideal for gardeners in warmer climates.
New Red Fire
The leaves of New Red Fire are green at the base with touches of red at the tips, looking like a lively flame wherever it is planted. If you’re looking for a short-season variety, this is a good choice, ready to harvest in just 55 days.
The benefits don’t stop there. Matching its fiery look, this lettuce variety is known for its heat tolerance and bolt resistance. It is also resistant to downy mildew, bottom rot, and tipburn, so you don’t have to rush to harvest the heads.
Red Sails
Impatient gardeners who want quick results in their vegetable gardens will appreciate Red Sails. This lettuce variety is often grown as a baby green and harvested a mere 20 days after sowing. But if you want to wait for the head of this leaf lettuce to form, it will be ready to pull in only 45 days.
Red Sails is great for a pop of color, but it comes with a host of other pros. It is heat tolerant and doesn’t become bitter over time, maintaining its buttery texture and sweet flavor. It also contains more vitamin A and C than grocery-store lettuce and grows well in containers. What more could you ask for?
Black Seeded Simpson
Experienced gardeners will recognize the popular Black Seeded Simpson lettuce variety, a seed favorite since 1850. It’s been a staple for good reason, with a great balance of texture and flavor that’s versatile in the kitchen.
You can harvest this leaf lettuce in as little as 40 days or half that time if you want baby greens. It grows quickly without compromising on quality and withstands heat and light frosts well.
Brentwood
If you spot a head of Brentwood in the garden, you may confuse it for a mound of shimmering gems emerging from the soil. For maximum ornamental value, this variety delivers. The compact leaves are bright burgundy with a glossy sheen, earning a place on the list of most beautiful lettuce varieties.
Brentwood forms compact heads in 57 days. The upright and tight growth habit makes chopping a breeze, delivering a colorful, delicious salad in no time.
Ezrilla
The last entry on this list is a leaf lettuce variety that’s easy to grow from seed, with impressive texture. Ezrilla is great for continuous harvesting, and the outer leaves are easy to remove throughout the season. The heads have very little core, giving you plenty to work with in your salads.
Ezrilla is a good option for beginners because of its bolt and disease resistance. You won’t have much trouble with downy mildew, leaf aphid, die-back, and mosaic virus when growing this variety.
