Planting Hope

In 1997, I contacted a nurseryman who had rescued hundreds of native plants that were going to be destroyed from a road cut near Northfield, MN.

I bought several hundred of his plants for a restoration project that I was doing with 3^rd graders at Big Willow Park in Minnetonka. I kept three of American Ginseng that was in the mix and have been propagating them for the past 28 years.

Before continuing, it is important to know our local history with ginseng. In 1858, South Central Minnesota, there were crop failures and settlers had to find other ways to feed their families. Ginseng was very common in the woodland forests. Settlers could dig ginseng roots and sell them to exporters who would ship the roots to China. The dried root was used for its medicinal properties. “Ginseng fever” quickly spread throughout the area.  By July of 1859, the supply of ginseng in the woods of Central Minnesota was exhausted. Over 200,000 pounds of ginseng was shipped to China during that year and half boom.

Ginseng Life Cycle
united plantsavers photo

Ginseng has many interesting characteristics: It takes 2 years for the seed to germinate. The plant grows very slowly. The first year, the seedling has only 3 leaves and the next year, it may get another leaf. By year three, it can have a full compliment of five palmate leaves.  A fist-sized root may take over six years to grow.

Three year old roots

Ginseng has been extirpated (locally extinct) from the forests where I live for over 160 years. Once I understood the horror of  “ginseng fever”, I began planting seeds and roots in our forests  hoping that ginseng will flourish again.

Six to eight year old roots