Growing hops in your garden has design tips as well as how to plant your hops. It’s an excellent climber for an edible ornamental garden, and I also explain what you may need to wary of when cultivating hop plants.
These are plenty of reasons why you might want to grow hops, especially as part of an ornamental edible garden. For example, plant or flowers could be used for:
- covering a difficult wall
- herbal tisane, or tea
- adding height to a herb garden
- part of a wildlife friendly garden
- making a sleep pillow
- flavouring homebrewed beer
- a decorative addition to the flower border
- to climb over a pergola to provide shade
- woodland garden
But first, how hops grow and why you need the correct plant.
A Bit of Botany
Humulus lupulus is mainly found in temperate and sub-tropical regions. It’s native to the UK, including the Channel Islands but is an introduction to Northern Ireland.
The European hop is a climbing, herbaceous perennial, ie the top growth dies back in late autumn. It has a strong rhizomatous root system and develops a deep tap root as it matures.
Hops are dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female plants. The female plants produce cones known as strobili rather than flowers, and it is these which are properly called hops rather than the plant as a whole. Only female flowers are used for edible and medicinal purposes.
Lupulus is Latin for small wolf and derives from the plant’s ability to overcome its support, as was described by Pliny the Elder back in 77BCE in his Naturalis Historia:
“[the hop] strangles them by its light, climbing embraces, as the wolf does a sheep”.
And the common name English name of hop is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word hoppan, meaning to climb.
There’s a reason for this climbing ability: Humulus is a bine, not a vine. This means that the shoots themselves grow in a spiral which twists around any vaguely suitable support. The hooked prickles on the stems enable it to latch on. This, plus the desire to grow towards the light (phototropism), enables the hop plant to be a self-supporting climber of great velocity.
Growing Hops in Your Garden
Hops were used as additive to beer in early mainland medieval Europe, where their anti-microbial properties preserved the beer for longer. In Britain, it was a foraged wild food plant or cultivated as a vegetable, as until the sixteenth century, ale, not beer, was drunk.
General tips, Planting and Maintenance
Location
Hop plants will grow well in most soil types, and, once they’ve established, their deep root system is remarkably drought tolerant. But they don’t mind a lightly moist soil.
Although full sun is generally recommended, I have found them reliable in semi-shade, where they only receive direct morning sun or late afternoon sun. Not surprising, really, as in the wild they can found growing in hedgerows and woodland edges.
However, its best to avoid exposed positions as this can cause early browning of the flowers. A lot of wind may interfere with the younger climbing shoots’ ability to hook onto support..
Flowers
If you’re growing a hop plant purely for foliage, then it’s irrelevant whether you grow a male or female plant. However, for showy, lightly scented flowers, you’ll need a female. The flowers themselves are small, hidden behind the scales which we can see in August and September. After which they begin to turn papery and brown as they ripen. This is when you should harvest them.
NB both female and male plants produce flowers. If you want seed, then you’ll need both for pollination.
Planting
- Buying a plant in spring will give you a good sized climber by later summer.
- Plant it at the same depth as it was in the pot.
- Water until established, remembering to allow for the rain shadow effect, for example if you’ve planted the hop against a garage wall.
Garden Teacher Tip
All hops will need a framework to grow up. If you don’t provide one, they’ll find their own…
A trellis against a fence or a tall obelisk will be fine for one plant. If you’re growing more than one together, see greenhouse shading section.
Maintenance
Humulus is useful as a fast-growing climber, easily reaching 6 foot in its first year and 15 foot when mature. But there are downsides to this speed, as the plant can take over a border with nutritious soil in a couple of years if left unchecked! Be sure to cut it back to ground level when the foliage dies down in autumn. Add a mulch when you’re ’doing’ the perennials.
Warning
The ‘hairy’ leaves and stems and the pollen may irritate your skin. Rashes on hands and face was a common ailment amongst hop pickers. Wearing gloves when pruning and harvesting is recommended.
Propagation
Personally I wouldn’t bother sowing from seed when growing from division is so much easier, quicker and reliable! Plus it takes 2 – 3 years to know the gender of a seed sown plant.
Lift and split the root in spring. Pot up and grow on. You can also propagate the rooted suckers. If frosts are still likely, keep pots in a cold frame or greenhouse.
Softwood cuttings can also be taken from female plants in the spring.
Which Hop Plant to Choose?
If you need to cover an sightly wall or provide shade in the first season, then the ‘basic’ green Humulus lupulus is your best bet. remember to choose a female plant for flowers you can enjoy and use.
The golden form, Humulus lupulus ‘Aureus’ keeps its golden foliage even in shadier spots, which is not always the case with coloured foliage plants.
Humulus lupulus ‘Fuggle’ is considered to be one of the best for home beer brewing.
Humulus lupulus ‘Wye Challenger’ has red stems and green foliage.
Where in the garden is good for growing hop plants and which type or style of garden do they suit?
Growing Hops in the Ornamental Garden
Golden hop can be a decorative addition to the mixed herbaceous border, offering a contrast when you have predominantly green foliage. And if bright is your style, the golden foliage makes a colourful backdrop to herbaceous flowers such as Galliarda and bronze Rudbeckia.
The speedy growth is useful if you –
- have an unsightly garage wall to cover up -give it a trellis or wires for support
- want something to climb over a pergola
- need to provide shade for a greenhouse or hen run
- would like instant height that’s also perennial rather than annual
Pergola planting idea for May – September interest and scent
Plant a hop on one side and an early flowering honeysuckle on the other. By the time the honeysuckle has flowered and could do with a light prune, the hop will be taking over.
Shady Borders and Woodland Edge Planting
Hops are a perfect climber for these locations, whether you create support for them or let then clamber through existing shrubs and trees. If the latter, be sure the hops aren’t strangling their support! If needed, cut the hop plants down to base in autumn / winter to keep them in check.
Container Gardening
Given a large pot and an obelisk or similar support, these will grow to 2 – 3 metres. To keep it smaller, you could trim the plant as it grows, but remember not to cut off flowering stems!
Humulus lupulus ‘Golden Tassels’
Humulus lupulus ‘Prima Donna’ – the foliage starts green and turns to yellow later in the season.
Growing Hops in the Herb Garden and Kitchen Garden
Use that climbing instinct to give you height in a herb garden. Golden hops waving from the top of an obelisk are a pretty sight as a summer centrepiece and makes for easier cropping of the flowers.
Pick some young side shoots in spring, steam as you would with asparagus. The male flowers can be parboiled and added into salads.
Collect female flowers late August – September; they should feel ‘papery’. Hang them up to dry (decorative already!) or lay on clean paper, allowing some ventilation below. The air flow encourages the flowers to dry and not go mouldy. Then you could –
- fill ‘hop pillows’ with them to encourage a sweet-scented restorative sleep. When suffering from bouts of porphyria, and treated as a lunatic, George III at least had the comfort of sleeping on hop filled pillows
- brew a tisane. Steep the flowers only for a few minutes, then drink at bedtime to induce a good night’s sleep. It should also aid digestion if drunk an hour before eating. NB hops shouldn’t be ingested by pregnant women or those suffering from depression (unless under medical guidance).
if you fancy brewing beer with your own hops, do research which one will give the flavour you require and also best suits your locality.
Hops for Wildlife Gardens
The climbing hop plant is an excellent addition to a wildlife garden. it can provide shelter for birds, possibly even to nest in. The hop leaves are a food source for the Comma butterfly in its caterpillar stage. This latter means you will get some nibbled leaves, but hey, that’s what wildlife gardening is about. Try growing green and bronze fennel in front to increase the food source for wildlife.
Collect female flowers late August – September; they should feel ‘papery’. Hang them up to dry (decorative already!) or lay on clean paper, allowing some ventilation below. The air flow encourages the flowers to dry and not go mouldy. Then you could –
- fill ‘hop pillows’ with them to encourage a sweet-scented restorative sleep. When suffering from bouts of porphyria, and treated as a lunatic, George III at least had the comfort of sleeping on hop filled pillows
- brew a tisane. Steep the flowers only for a few minutes, then drink at bedtime to induce a good night’s sleep. It should also aid digestion if drunk an hour before eating. NB hops shouldn’t be ingested by pregnant women or those suffering from depression (unless under medical guidance)
if you fancy brewing beer with your own hops, do research which one will give the flavour you require and also best suits your locality.
Shade for Greenhouses, Pets and Domestic Livestock
Revel in fast growing hops providing shade. Screening your greenhouse is a good place to start, but you may have, for example, hen runs, rabbit and guinea pig enclosures, dog areas. These will also benefit, especially as British summers become hotter.
How to create vertical screening
- clear / make a border next to your greenhouse / run
- fix 8 -10 ft posts at 2 – 3 ft intervals
- run horizontal wires between them
- add vertical string, 2-3 per plant
An alternative is to use coppiced hazel poles and string to create a shorter screen or tepee.
Warning
The hop flowers produce a bitter resin called lupulin. However, very large quantities would need to be ingested to cause nausea: most animals and children taste, spit and don’t try again! And the height where the flowers grow makes them difficult to reach in the first place.
Growing Hops for Wildlife Gardens
The hop plant is an excellent addition to a wildlife garden. it can provide shelter for birds, possibly even to nest in. Hop leaves are a food source for the Comma butterfly in its caterpillar stage, which means you will get some nibbled leaves, but hey, that’s what wildlife gardening is about! Grow fennel in front to increase the food source and offer visual contrast for humans.
Hops can be particularly useful in the early years of a native hedge when the other plants are still putting on growth, especially when you’ve used bare root shrubs. Unless you need a dog proof boundary, one way to economically grow a native hedge is to put in some post and wire fencing. Plant bare root shrubs at wider spacings and infill with hops and briar rose. Prune the hops in autumn and the rose late winter / early spring, once the hips have been eaten by the birds.
Growing Hops in Your Garden – a few final thoughts
Whatever you do, enjoy your garden and if Plews can help you with growing hops and other useful yet ornamental plants, do please get in touch. Whether you need our Garden Consultancy & Advice Visits, a planting rethink or even a birthday present. Plews bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden make a wonderful and practical gift.
For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below.
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