Plants ordered today will be shipped in Spring 2023.
Jiao-gu-lan, Japanese (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) potted vine, organic
$8.50
Family: Cucurbit (Cucurbitaceae)
Hardy to zone 7 to 12, commonly grown as a potted plant and brought in for the winter.
(Immortality, Amachazu, Jiao-gu-lan) Herbaceous or perennial dioecious vine native to China, Tibet, Japan and Southeast Asia, the blue-green leaves of this perennial vine are commonly made into tea. Does well in pots and is commonly kept in a light window. Outdoors, a thick mulch will assist these beauties in surviving harsh winters, or you can overwinter them indoors (they grow!) or in a cold greenhouse to add some protection. Trellis. Traditional usage: adaptogen and life extension. To explain one of the gallery images–it is a specialized jiao-gu-lan bed in a greenhouse, with deep, rich soil surrounded by rocks. You can see the jiao-gu-lan roots planted to the perimeter of the bed. The vines (male and female) will drape over the sides and fruit in season. r
Potted Plant Certified Organically Grown
james.magnus.bacon (verified owner) –
Learning a lot about this plant – I’m on the front range in Colorado (5b-6a) – It’s a zone 7-11 plant so when it gets down to 10degrees will the plant die outright? Im planning on mulching it and keeping my fingers crossed it will come back for the second year. And it didn’t get very big this first year but it was happy to spread and climb my 6′ trellis about a foot. I harvested some leafy vines today – careful not to take any outta the ground that may have started rooting but I am wondering – before I chop them up and put some on my drying rack or in a tincture jar – should I try to propagate them with cuttings so I can see if I can get it going inside? Any tips? Also, do you know why isn’t this plant more commonly available commerically? It seems like a big winner for people who enjoy drinking tea and apparently the therapeutic properties are legion… Regardless of its medicinal value, it’s an intrinsically special plant. Thank you for the plants Richo!
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Richo Cech –
hi james, thanks for the well written communication. I do think deep mulches help immensely with the overwintering of this plant. The aerial parts are the part used for tea and tincture. They are good for that but difficult to root. Use the running rhizomes to make more plants. Any 6-inch section can be removed and put into a new pot, just sub-surface, and will sprout. Once you dig in there you’ll see plenty of roots i expect. richo
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sonia.rodriguez –
I put some sections on a new pot, almost just in contact with the soil as Richo said. The only difference is it is held in place with a small fork of wire or an semi-open paper clip.. I only separate this section from the mother plant when you notice that it is growing and already has roots.
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Question
Maggie –
Hello! Will these be back in stock for 2022? Thanks for all you do!
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Richo Cech –
hi Maggie, YES! richo
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Maggie –
Awesome! Any chance you can estimate when back in stock? Thanks, Richo!
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Richo Cech –
please hit waitlist. we’re catching our tails on plant shipping, will re-inventory and put many “sold out” plants back up for sale 5/15/2022. r
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Rebecca –
I’m on the wait list, but just curious if there will be more potted plants available later this year or if I should plan for next year. Thanks!
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Richo Cech –
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for contacting. We’re in the midst of inventory and lots of plants like this are being enabled for fall sales. Jiao makes a great indoor plant, too. richo
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Question
Hanna –
Hi Richo! Thanks for being an amazing resource for amazing plants! Will you have Jiaogulan in stock in 2022? If so do you know when?
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Richo Cech –
hi hanna, i know nursery staff already has these potted up. i’ll ask them to enable sales. hit waitlist. it’ll be soon, and thanks for wanting them. r
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Katie Chang –
vigorous plants. Started with 3. This picture is from season 3.
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scottziehos –
Will they be back in stock soon?
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Richo Cech –
hi scott, we’ll definitely strive to list this again soon, we do have some coming on, i wish to list only when i know the plants will cause happiness on receipt. r
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Question
Michell –
Do you have the plant in stock? I was reading and they were saying you need a male and female planted close together. Is this true Richo?
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Richo Cech –
Hello Michell,
Thanks for contacting! Jiao-gu-lan plants are still in stock. Yes, they are dioecious, meaning male plants and female plants. For herbal use, one does not require both sexes–either one will do. For the purpose of making seeds, you need both male and female plants. Seed production is rather difficult with this species, which is typical to plants that reproduce readily from running rhizomes/stolons. We don’t sell sexed individuals, its pot luck, suggest getting 3 if you want to assure both male and female. Richo
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Florence Pitcher –
Will they tolerate brackish water? I would like to keep them, yet My garden floods from time to time.
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Richo Cech –
Hi Florence,
I would recommend instead Gao-liang-jiang (Alpinia officinarum) for this kind of microniche, I’m not at all sure that the Gynostemma would tolerate it. Richo
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Question
bethanyziman (verified owner) –
Is there any harm in harvesting Jiaogulan to dry for tea after it has gone to seed? Time got away from me!
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Richo Cech –
hi bethany, there is no harm. probably best not to use the fruits themselves in tea, they are a bit strong. richo
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Ty –
Is this considered the sweet form or bitter form?
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Richo Cech –
sweet
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Scott –
How old do they have to be to tell the difference between sweet and bitter or any age?
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Richo Cech –
any age
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scottziehos –
are they sweet eaten raw as well, or do the leaves need to be dried?
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Richo Cech –
hi scott, thanks for contacting. it is better to dry the leaves and make the tea, yes. the jiao can be eaten fresh and some poeple like it, but it is basically a tea herb, so drying makes it tastier. a good jiao tea tastes like nettle tea with honey. r
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Samantha –
Loved my Jiao gu lan for several years…but sadly through my own neglect, she is no more. I hope to see these offered in live plant form again soon! I miss my invigorating tea! Green Blessings to you beautiful folk at Strictly! ?
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Richo Cech –
Hi Sam,
Yes, we have these in the making and we have a good-looking seed crop coming on. Stay tuned.
Richo
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Tally Cats –
Since planted it has doubled in size in less than a month. I can literally watch this amazing plant grow! Its delicious in tea and a great Cilantro alternative.
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Lila McClellan –
Are the berries edible?
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Richo Cech –
not really
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Mary –
This healthy plant arrived with others. I live in northern MN (zone 3) with lots of deer, voles, slugs…so didn’t even think of planting it outside. It makes an incredibly beautiful potted plant, growing up a trellis. I need to regularly harvest and use the foliage in tea to keep it from taking over the world. It seems to overwinter well inside, too. Richo always delivers great plants!
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Question
Tristan –
Will a thick mulch protect Jiao-gu-lan from harsh winters outdoors in Indiana? I would like to grow it indoors and outdoors if possible.
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Admin Richo Cech –
Hi Tristan,
You’re one or two zones too cold for jiao-gu-lan to overwinter. The mulch idea might be good, I can’t really say, I overwinter mine in beds without mulch in an unheated greenhouse and they come back fine in the spring.
Richo
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Ila –
I’m in Scotland and I’ve had to grow it indoors for years. Goes dormant for many months here then always comes back in April/May. I grow it indoors now whereas many years ago I grew it outdoors because I was living in California back then. Soon I’ll move to a more temperate country so I can go back to growing medicinal plants outdoors again.
Much love, stay safe.
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adamjeanchristopher (verified owner) –
Ordered this lil’ guy a few weeks back(along with two other plants) and was incredibly surprised at the spectacular packaging!!
Having never ordered any live plants before, part of me expected to receive a wilted and sun-deprived little thing, hahaha!
But the plants were packed amazingly well, i was truly surprised to find un-smunched and perky plants! They are now established in their new home and growing happily!
Thank you guys!
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Bud –
Last year I ordered 3 jiaogulan with 3 ashitaba. Upon opening the package I saw the jiaogulan had wrapped tendrils around the ashitaba– for support during the ride, I’m sure! 😉
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Julie Wawirka –
This has overwintered well in my unheated greenhouse. Last year was cold enough to kill the Hill’s Hardy rosemary there, around -15F, but this plant was fine. It is increasing and spreading by rooting. I had plants overwinter with snow cover outside, but the voles were quite fond of it. ( The chickens love it as a green too!)
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maiacuclinic (verified owner) –
So glad to hear this! I’m in zone 4 so it’s be great to overwinter this outside if possible.
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rlance (verified owner) –
I searched everywhere for a source of organic Jiao-gu-lan. I have often been offered a healing tea from this herb when I am in Temples in China. I found these and ordered three. The price was so reasonable that I was sure they would be tiny barely rooted cuttings. Much to my surprise, I promptly received three beautiful balls of vigorously rooted plants in great condition. Thank you ever so much. I will so enjoy drinking tea next summer.
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M Warren (verified owner) –
I ordered 3 of these at the end of spring. They are in a hanging pot, mostly shaded, and have grown about 4-5 feet. Best of all, they survived and thrived throughout our hot Texas summer (many days 100+ degrees) with only minimal wilting! I’ll be ordering more…
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Rosemarie Schaefer –
I live in Texas as well and I’m delighted to hear that these plants tolerated our hot Texas summers.
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Jenn (verified owner) –
I ordered this plant last year and love it! The deer and the slugs and the pillbugs also love it. Struggling to get it to come back this year with all the love.
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Admin Richo Cech –
Right, my approach to this is usually to pull out old mulch from around the plant and replace with sand, which pillbugs do not like. As for deer, they can be devastating, and most of the traditional approaches (caging, fencing, dogs) are quite labor-intensive. A mixed planting with plenty of Mediterraneans in there can help.
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nrc3neal –
G. pentaphyllum is dioecious. How early can you sex the plant? Will I need to order randoms to eventually find mates or might you be able to determine gender in your nursery?
Grateful!
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Diana –
Sorry, we haven’t had it together enough to separate the plants into male and female. We probably will have seed coming on so if you click on the waitlist for seeds then you’ll get an e-mail when seeds are available, and you can start them from seed, and then you’ll be sure to have both males and females. Otherwise maybe order 3 plants and go for pot luck, you may get both sexes. The plants flower very late in the year so you can usually sex them in the fall of the first or second year. r
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Trin –
Your plants are quite vigorous! I ordered jiaogulan and ashitaba a couple of years back, when I opened the package I noticed that the jiaogulans had curled some tendrils around the ashitaba stem for support during the ride. I carefully uncurled them while removing the plants.
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Richo Cech –
Hello Trin,
Thanks for that!
Richo
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mike burridge –
Bought multiple plants nearly 3 years ago, growing like a wild fire, mother plant has vines that reach 30-40 feet during the warm season
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Katie Chang –
Hi Richo! 3rd or 4th season since purchase of 3 plants from Strictly Medicinal. All the plants I have ordered always arrive in fantastic condition. The packing really protects. Those three plants have thoroughly naturalized to my yard in zone 7B Baltimore Maryland. It is coming up everywhere! I harvested it moderately hard throughout the last season – necessary to contain it, but its nice when stuff is so plentiful you can harvest liberally and not be concerned about plant taking over. If I don’t like where it’s growing – I harvest it. There was enough to get me through the winter and plenty to share! Do you know if deer or other woodland animals like it? Rabbits don’t bother it. Slugs love it.
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Richo Cech –
Hi Katie,
Thanks for staying in touch. You must have a shady yard. I do think that deer will eat Jiao-gu-lan. Richo
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nrc3neal –
Mahalo Katie Chang for the review; it will help me situate them in my agroforest in HI.
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Jenny Wilder (verified owner) –
Will Jiaogulan seeds require cold stratification before planting? And also need light for germination? I am reading different info, and that they are hard to germinate. Any advice?
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Richo Cech –
hi jenny, they are easy to germinate in a cool greenhouse. Most growers fail with these because they cook them–I’d keep around 65 degrees F for decent germ. As with many plants that propagate readily from running rhizomes, the plant is a scanty seed producer (usually one or two seeds per berry) and given the very late maturation, most growers find they freeze out before berry production. In other words, my advice is to get a plant and propagate off of that–much easier. richo
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Jenny Wilder (verified owner) –
Thank you for the info! Much appreciated. I have seen conflicting info on cold stratification of seeds before planting. I assume that would also cause no germination…sorry for the rookie questions! ?
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Richo Cech –
hey, no problem, at your service
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Michael Monaghan –
Hi Richo
My backyard in Central North Carolina has much shade with Pecan Trees. If I mulch and use raised beds could this Jiao gu lan survive the winter? Much rain here also, like almost 60 inches a year. But the sun is shinning mostly.
Mike
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Richo Cech –
Hello Michael, My original Jiao gu lan came from Mountain Gardens near Burnsville. The plant overwinters readily in NC, especially if you treat in the manner you describe. r
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Michael Monaghan –
Thank you this is just one of the reasons I buy seeds from you Richo. Cannot get knowledge and service like this anywhere that I have seen.
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Richo Cech –
my pleasure
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Rebecca Ryan (verified owner) –
I received my plants last week. I live in Phoenix AZ, can these be planted in the shade where they only get a couple of hours of sun per day? What’s ideal in my hot climate?
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Richo Cech –
hi rebecca, i do think these need to be planted in the shade in phoenix. they appreciate a rich, moist soil and a trellis. A deep coir mulch will help keep the roots cool. r
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michelle (verified owner) –
Hey I got one of these from you back in 2020 and it’s overwintered for 2 years in a row in my USDA zone 5 garden. I haven’t made any effort to shelter it at all. It’s a great plant and makes excellent tea. I’ve also been keeping it as a houseplant.
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Michael Monaghan –
Received 3 plants and put them out in beds. All 3 rooted and are spreading. Nice! My Rehmannia I received is taking off well too. Thank you Richo
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morph.brick –
Since Jiagolan produces rhizome, can you buy only one seedling plant (e g male) and divide it till you get male and female plants?
In otherwords, Can a female sexes emerge from dividing a male plant?
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Richo Cech –
hello morph, thanks for staying in touch. for most growers it is a moot point to try to obtain seeds, because the induction period is very lengthy–you would still have to have unfrozen conditions in November. Anyhow, no, once a male always a male, regardless of division. richo
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