Plants ordered now will ship Spring 2020.
Jiao-gu-lan, Japanese (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) potted vine, organic
$7.50 – $50.00
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 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
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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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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Admin 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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