PlantFiles: Hops
Humulus lupulus

I love this leafy thing. I also happen to like the feel of the bristly twining stems. A supurb plant for the novice. Even in a very hot, very dry climate, it thrives. I will add some unsaid notes about it:

The roots ( not runners) point out at angles from the root ball, some running parallel to the soil surface, others strait down. These can be more than nine feet long after the plant's second year. (I love to dig) This characteristic makes it excellent for drought-plagued areas or xeriscaping, being able to tap water sources lower than even most trees go.

Another note as to an invasive nature: Not naturally. An interesting thing I found with two plants, both moved in February to a new site; was that the plant whose root ball was buried at soil-level carried on as usual and grew from that center.

But the other plant, whom I buried an inch or two underground, made runners of it's stems that had been buried. In other words, those branches grew out horizontally, regardless of the fact that they were underground, and sprouted up a few feet away, rooting where they were.

Simply, planting it too deep will make it a running plant when it does not seem to otherwise.

Both plants have grown 25 feet this season in their new home, and are covered with young buds. I will be experamenting with growing the species and H. lupulus 'Aureus' next to each other next year for comparison and contrast. I'll have to dig up one of the originals, so if anyone wants starts of it this late fall...

James

Hops is a plant that has been grown in kitchen gardens for centuries. We brew our own beer but don't used the hops we grow because it is too difficult to control the quality of the active substances.

However, it is a wonderful vine for covering fences or unsightly mounds in your yard and will return every year from the roots. It grows on our pasture fences and the horses leave it alone because of the stem spines.

The female flowers are the source of lupulin, the essential oil that makes beer both bitter and fragrant, depending of the variety grown. I find the scent very pleasant and it does have a mild soporific affect, making it an excellent ingredient for filling Dream Pillows.

Grow from seed or buy roots in the spring of established cultivars (recommended). Divide by splitting well established clumps in the early spring, before the last frost.

While a strong grower, this plant is not invasive in the mint/bamboo sense of the word. It is easy to cut back the vines and it does die back to the ground every fall.

Harvest the female flowers for craft use while they still have lots of gobs of lupulin on them. You can see this as little golden dots that are sticky to the touch. Let dry in the shade and store in airtight containers or in the freezer.

It is not necessary to grow male plants to get flowers, in fact they take up a lot of room and are not as attractive. If you are limited in space, buy a few female cultivar root cuttings and don't bother with seed. Seedlings seem to have a disproportionate number of males.

I have seen this plant growing on tall pyramidal supports in colonial gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia and Old Salem, North Carolina. If you are doing a period kitchen garden or herb garden, this plant should be included if you can give it the space. It is very ornamantal.

A rather coarse, tough vine climbing by tendril-like tips to the twining stems. The backward-pointing, stiff hairs provide extra anchorage but can give a painful scratch. Cultivated plants are trained up strings supported by tall poles in fields. Tough fibres from the stems have been used in the manufacture of cloth and a form of paper has also been made from the stems.

Tips of young shoots are edible and can be used fresh in salads or cooked like Asparagus, the latter method being favoured by the Romans. Hops produce the characteristic bitter taste of beer, a use extending at least back to the Middle Ages. Extracts from the female flowers have a mild sedative action and have been used for insomnia and nervous ailments.