Parsley will often bolt when it's transplanted. It's the way it has of protesting! Most plants with a long tap root strongly object to moving house. And if it's been kept at the nursery for a long time, they can actually use growth retardant chemicals to prevent it from growing. Once you get such plants home, and you stop using the retardants and plant them out, the parsley catches up with itself quite quickly and will bolt to seed almost immediately.

So, yes, it can happen regardless of the weather you describe (which is about our standard autumn conditions).

Thanks, Daisy! However, as I said, it's been in the ground since (mid) April, or about 2½ months. During that time it's grown quite bushy and put up plenty of new leaves.

Have others had the experience of parsley (undisturbed) bolting in its first year, because of heat or other conditions?

I've never seen it happen. In fact, I was/am way way behind in getting a lot of my seedlings in the garden this year. Had a couple of cell-packs of flat Italian parsley that were revoltingly rootbound, having been sown back in March.

I potted them up a couple of weeks ago & they're now full & lush with no signs of bolting or die back at all. I'm really surprised, because when I came across them I was sure they were goners & at first considered just tossing them on the compost pile.

In Texas it can. And it has this year. These were plants that came up on their own early this year from scattered seed. Some are bolting, some aren't.

My parsley bolted the first year in a pot. must have been the transplanting and then the hot weather. thanks for the info above! will plant in a cooler spot in the ground next year.