If you can control it, hops a nice vine, even if you're not a brewer
Question: Can hops be grown ornamentally? I’d like to try and grow some up both sides of a doorway and across the top. If so, where does one obtain seeds or young plants?
Answer: Hops are twining perennial vines. They grow from rhizomes, which are underground stems that produce the roots and shoots. When established, each vine has a tap root with other smaller lateral roots growing off the rhizome.
Caveat and back story: Think of hops as a long-term commitment. They are a lot of nuisance without careful planning. I learned the hard way about how pernicious hops can be as a garden ornamental.
Twenty years ago, I planted a few 1-year old rhizomes as a way of covering my ugly wire mesh deer fence. The vines took about three or four years to establish themselves. I was unimpressed.
Then, in year five, they spread like crazy and have been rampant monsters ever since. I spend a lot of time each early spring pulling and digging up the rhizomes that have spread to areas where I don’t want hops. I have even resorted to using an axe to reduce the huge woody rhizomes.
Hop basics: Each hop plant is either a male or a female. If you want the classic puffy-looking, showy female flowers (known as cones) that form in the summer and are used to flavor beer, then you’ll want to be sure and buy a female plant or two. Females are the ones usually sold by nurseries.
Each spring, established hops rhizomes send up new vine shoots out of the soil surface. These are edible. These growing tips also tell me that there’s a woody rhizome lurking below. According to growers, these can grow up to 15 feet deep into the soil.
Where to buy: Local nurseries and catalogs that sell hops rhizomes and/or plants, include The Thyme Garden in Alsea, thymegarden.com; Nichol’s Garden Nursery in Albany, nicholsgardennursery.com; and Weeks Berry Nursery in Keizer. Each February, they cut and pot up cuttings from established female plants. The Thyme Garden offers 2-year-old rooted rhizomes and sometimes sells 3-year-old rooted stock as well. If you want your hop vines to establish quickly, buy and plant the most mature stock possible.
February is the time to preorder hop starts by mail/online. New plants are available for sale at nurseries in March.
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For the frugal: If you are willing to wait a couple of years for large vines, find a friend with established female vines, and this month or next, take 6-inch cuttings and pot them up yourself, and let them establish for a year or two. Do it soon, as it is now the best time to establish plants from rhizome cuttings.
Hops can be started from seed, but you won’t know what sex you are growing until it flowers. Rarely, female hop plants have been known to produce a male vine or rhizome.
To control the chaos: If you want hops to grow around a doorway or garden arch, consider growing them in oak half barrels. This will help keep them in check and exactly where you want them. You’ll need to provide a sturdy trellis or support twine, frequent water and fertilizer to grow them this way. Prune potted vines frequently, once established, to prevent root-bound plants. Once root bound, hops tends not to flower and set cones.
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Planting info: To learn how to grow them in the ground, OSU Extension Service’s publication "Growing Hops in the Home Garden" is a good reference.This illustrated guide recommends planting new hops in well-drained soil, preferably a sandy- or silt-loam. You’ll need a fairly sunny site. Think about the shade a huge thicket of hops vines will cast about five years from now. This can work along the south side of a porch, where shade is desired.
Wait to plant until the threat of a killing frost has passed, typically around early April in our area. You’ll want to acclimatize your potted hop rhizomes to the climate where you will plant them, so put the plants outdoors into a partially shaded area several days prior to transplanting them.
Dig a planting area that is approximately twice the width of the planting container and to the same depth. Remove the hop plant, and place it in the center of the hole so that it is even with the soil level. Backfill the area with soil, and water thoroughly.
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