Growing guides for plants with roots in China — herbs, spices, teas, fruits, vegetables, and garden plants from Chinese growing traditions, adapted for home gardeners everywhere.
Plant 20 ginkgo seeds this fall, stratify them through winter, and expect the first green shoots in spring. That is the whole promise of learning how to grow ginkgo from seed: a living fossil on your windowsill by April, and…
Plant three pieces of store-bought turmeric rhizome in one wide 12-inch pot this spring and you can dig up your own harvest 8 to 10 months later. That is the whole promise when you learn how to grow turmeric in…
Plant one firm galangal rhizome in a 5-gallon pot in spring, keep the soil above 70°F, and you will dig your own harvest in 8 to 12 months. Galangal here means greater galangal, Alpinia galanga, a tropical ginger relative grown…
Long pepper is the tropical vine Piper longum, known in Ayurveda as pippali and in Chinese markets as bìbá, and its spice is a dense catkin-like spike 1.25 to 2 cm long, harvested blackish green and sun-dried for four to…
Plant one plump supermarket ginger root in February and you can dig up fresh, juicy rhizomes by October, with thin skins you never need to peel. Learning how to grow ginger at home comes down to three things: warmth, a…
Give one Lonicera japonica vine a 2-meter trellis in full sun and prune it hard twice a year. That is how to grow honeysuckle for tea without the plant eating your fence line. The rest of this page is 12…
4 to 5 years. That is how to grow white peony root from a bare-root division to a bai shao harvest: plant in autumn, give the plant four full seasons to build thick roots, then dig, peel, boil, and sun-dry…
If you want to learn how to grow Rehmannia glutinosa, start with the seed packet, not the soil. The plant sold as “Chinese foxglove” seed is usually a different species entirely, while the true Di Huang of traditional Chinese herb…
Chinese mugwort is a plant that will reward you for years, but it will also punish you for years if you plant it wrong. Artemisia argyi grows from seed to a harvestable 100 cm perennial in a single 4 to…
Buy 3 kilograms of tangerines this winter and you can make chen pi at home. That is how to make chen pi at home: dry the peel of mandarin oranges, then age it for at least three years until it…
Dang gui feeds a global herbal trade measured in tens of thousands of tons a year, and the same plant grows in a home garden if you give it what it wants. Learning how to grow dang gui from seed…
Schisandra is the five-flavor berry of traditional Chinese medicine, and you can grow it from seed in a home garden if you give it two things: 60 to 90 days of cold stratification to wake the seed, and three to…
Fill a 40 cm pot with forest-floor mix this autumn. That is how to grow ginseng in pots: a shade-loving woodland perennial whose taproot you will not see for five to ten years. The rest of this page is 15…
Sow a pinch of black seed this spring and eat garlic-flavored leaves for the next decade. That is how to grow garlic chives from seed: a perennial herb that shrugs off neglect, divides into free plants, and self-seeds with enough…
Plant one chrysanthemum this spring and brew your own tea by autumn. That is how to grow chrysanthemum for tea: a perennial flower with centuries of Chinese tradition behind it. The flowers are dried whole and steeped into a pale…
Plant a cassia tree this year and grind your own cinnamon in three to five. That is how to grow cassia cinnamon at home: a tropical evergreen whose inner bark becomes the spice in your pantry, harvested by coppicing the…
Crack 10 jujube pits this spring. That is how to grow jujube from seed: a thorned, drought-proof tree that turns out date-sweet fruit and outlives the gardener who plants it. The rest of this page is 15 moves, from stone…
Soak a spoonful of dried goji berries tonight. That is how to grow goji berries from seed: the dried fruit in your pantry already holds viable seed, and the shrub that grows from it fruits for decades. The rest of…
Scarify 20 Sichuan pepper seeds this weekend. That is how to grow Sichuan pepper from seed: a thorny, citrus-scented shrub that pays you back in tingling red husks for decades to come. The rest of this page is 15 moves,…
Soak 12 star anise seeds tonight. That is how to grow star anise in pots: a six-year wager that starts in a seed tray and ends with woody, eight-pointed pods drying on your own patio. The rest of this page…
