Plants will ship Mid-March 🙂
Schisandra, Official (Schisandra chinensis) potted vine, organic
$21.00
Family: Magnolia (Magnoliaceae)
Hardy to Zones 4 to 8
(Wu-wei-zi, Matrimony Vine, Magnolia Vine) Perennial woody vine. Native to Manchuria, northeastern China and Japan. The odoriferous pink or white flowers give way to bright red fruit which droops down in clusters from the vine. This is known as the many-flavored berry. The taste is sour. Traditional usage (TCM): appetite stimulant, immune-enhancement. Vine prefers moist soils and dappled shade, and really prefers to sprangle on the ground instead of climbing a trellis. Space 3 feet apart.
Potted plant, Certified Organically Grown
Out of stock
Diana –
I am in zone 3, upstate NY. I was planning on ordering 4 of these beauties next week. I see you start shipping out in later June. Does it make sense for me to get them in the ground now or should I just wait till fall? I realize they won’t flower until next season.
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Richo Cech –
Hi Diana,
Thanks for contacting. Schisandra is a good choice for the colder zones although I see it is listed only down to a zone 4 and you’re a bit colder than that. The seeds are in stock and the plants are out of stock. I have a large population of schisandra seedlings going right now and will be listing the plants in spring 2025. If this is of interest to you, hit “waitlist.”
Richo
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Diana –
Dear Richo
Your patience is impressive. The plants and humans, too, are grateful
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Question
Kathleen McFeeley (verified owner) –
Are the schisandra plants you sell all females? Is there any way to tell the difference between the male & female plants?
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Richo Cech –
Hi Kathleen, Thanks for contacting! Like many dioecious plants, the Schisandra will become hermaphroditic if plants of both sexes are not present. Read all the comments below for a pretty thorough go-through on this. Stay tuned for the re-enabling of plant sales on this–I was out in the shadehouse yesterday and my last planting of schisandra seeds, responding to a cooling cycle in our rather schizophrenic spring weather, is germinating with hundreds of starts. Richo
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Question
Fang –
Which breed is the Schisandra vine? Is the Schisandra vine self fertile? Thanks!
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Richo Cech –
Hello Fang,
Please read down through the comments on a ton of comment and controversy about the pollination biology of Schisandra. There is also an excellent monograph on this in “Growing Plant Medicine Vol 2,” which will soon be available to you and a number of others who have pre-purchased the book. In short, you’re going to want to grow several of these for best pollination and fruit set. As for the breed of our schisandra, they are grown by us from seed of the standard wild-form variety. Specialty cultivars will not come true from seed, anyway, and we tend not to give too much attention to specialty cultivars. Richo
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Richo Cech –
Hello Natali, We are a tilth certified organic and state certified nursery located in Williams, Oregon, USA. Richo
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natali –
Hi from which country are you shipping schisandra to new york?
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Question
Pam –
Hi Richo! Are these plants dioecious? I’m wondering how many I’d need for good pollination.
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Richo Cech –
Hi Pam, That is the thousand dollar question and there is great debate about it. My feeling is that any given plant will tend toward one sex or the other, but if not located near a plant of the opposite sex, will become at least partially hermaphroditic to compensate. There is science on both sides of the track on this one. I encourage growers to jump for 3, not only to help assure both sexes, but for to stoke diversity and provide insurance against the inevitable slings and arrows of plantdom. Richo
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Ted B –
Saunders clarifies in his excellent treatise (2000) on Schisandra that members of the genus are not dioecious although they may appear as such. They produce male flowers until they accumulate sufficient energy for reproduction, which is when female flowers appear. I have observed both male and female flowers on the same plant for this and other Schisandra spp. Because they tend to be only sparingly self-fertile however, several genetically different plants (i.e. all grown from seed) should be cultivated in close proximity if fruit is desired. In China, commercially cultivated S. chinensis plants are grown tightly together like a row crop for their fruit.
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Question
michanne –
Hi! I’m in NM in zone 7b, at an elevation of just under 6000’. Could I grow schisandra here if I provide it the conditions noted in its entry?
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Richo Cech –
hi michanne, thanks for writing. you remind me to check soon on how my vines are doing, they are in their third year in a shade garden that i visit not too often. i find schisandra pretty challenging to grow and it may be an environmental thing–it is very dry here. new mexico is dry, too, although i do not think the elevation you mention is excessive. in fact it could be helpful, as it will mean a good deal of cold, which schisandra loves. probably a deep mulch around the vines would help keep them from drying out. richo
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Question
Andy –
Hi Richo,
I am in Zone 5, 8000 ft, Northern NM in pinon Juniper woodlands. What do you think of Schisandra in partial shade there?
Thanks,
Andy
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Richo Cech –
hi andy, i think its too high for schisandra–i would go for goji instead. richo
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Joy –
Hi there. How do I order a male and a female plant?
Thank you.
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Richo Cech –
hello joy, i wish we had these for you. they sold out and we don’t have new crop at this point. you might try from seeds, which are in stock, and which will make both males and females, or you might be able to find plants at “one green world.” richo
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