Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Description:

A highly ornamental twining vine, featuring attractive, cone-shaped clusters of yellowish fruits which are used in beer making; very tough and adaptable, good for screening or a quick cover; needs structural support; cut back to the ground each spring

Ornamental Features

Crystal Hops is primarily grown for its highly ornamental fruit. It produces abundant clusters of chartreuse hop-like fruit with yellow overtones from mid summer to mid fall. It tomentose lobed leaves remain green in colour throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Crystal Hops is a dense herbaceous annual with a ground-hugging habit of growth. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other garden plants with finer foliage.

This is a high maintenance plant that will require regular care and upkeep, and can be pruned at anytime. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Invasive

Crystal Hops is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Hedges/Screening
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Crystal Hops will grow to be about 20 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. As a climbing vine, it should either be planted near a fence, trellis or other landscape structure where it can be trained to grow upwards on it, or allowed to trail off a retaining wall or slope. Although it's not a true annual, this fast-growing plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat. This is a dioecious species, meaning that individual plants are either male or female. Only the females will produce fruit, and a male variety of the same species is required nearby as a pollinator.

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Crystal Hops is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.