PlantFiles: Vietnamese Coriander
Persicaria odorata

I have a "new" yard in Philadelphia this year (a friendly neighbor razed the back yard last June before we moved in). This year we had several volunteers of (I think) vietnamese coriander. I liked its form and let it go...now I have a forest. When staked, they're about 6 feet tall!

Can anyone provide more information about its growing habit, propagation, etc.? Is there a look-alike plant I might be mistaking for persicaria odorata? Any warnings?

Persicaria odorata grows best in warm sunny, to part shade position in moist or wet soil. It will grow in shallow water quite happily, in the margin of a pond or bog garden. When grown in a more shaded position its leaves become more pale green and lose their distinctive arrow shaped pattern. The plant overwinters here without any trouble, tollerating near frost but will die if exposed to temperatures below freezing.
Used as a culinary herb throughout South East Asia, in the cuisines of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos etc. The leaves are shedded or used whole in curries, soups, noodles etc, especially with coconut milk and famously in Laksa soup. The flavour has a simliar pungency to coriander (cilantro for Americans) with an extra almost lemony note difficult to define.
Definitely worth growing for anyone interested in cooking authentic Asian food.

This plant grows like a weed in my back yard herb garden. The soil is wet most of the time, and the plant is in part shade. Makes great herb vinegar!

Easy to care for, needs to overwinter inside since it doesn't like the cold,(my garden being in the northwest of England!) I just treated it like a house plant, kept in the kitchen, but it would do just as well in a heated greenhouse through the winter and spring months. A lovely herb to use in stirfrys and curries... goes particularly well with pork and pineapple...has a hot slightly peppery spicy flavour...ideal for growing in a tub on the patio, in general purpose compost...doesn't like being to wet or too dry...