The Ginseng is Still Sleeping

The woods are still wrapped in the relative peace of winter around here at Wild Ozark. However, the vernal witch hazel is blooming. Everything blooms and sprouts a little later here in our little valley. It’s a microcosm separated by about a week or even more from areas around us.

This year is going to be a slim-picking year for first year seedlings. I didn’t get to order seeds last year, so the only yearlings will be the ones that come up from mature plants here and from dormant seeds that decide to sprout this year. There will be two and three-year old plants, but those, too will be in short supply because I sold many of those last year when I ran out of seedlings to fill orders.

However, the demonstration habitat garden will be open to visitors beginning in May. If you’d like to see ginseng and companion plants growing in native habitat, book an appointment to come out. The garden is a once selectively logged hillside that was in the first years not very suitable for growing ginseng. With help from lattice-work placed between trees, and plantings of companion plants and most of all, time, it has slowly become a much better location than it was starting out.

There are other areas here that were already suitable, and already had colonies of ginseng growing there. But it was a great exercise to participate in the rehabilitation of a spot to watch it become better and better each year. This is most likely the kind of property most new growers and stewards will be working with, so it’s a great opportunity to see it evolve over the years.

Planning to Buy Seedlings 2024?

Please email me to get on the reserve list. As soon as I know how many plants will be available, I’ll fill the orders in the order received. Potted seedlings are only available as pick-up, either here at Wild Ozark or in Alpena at my art gallery. I’ll also have some of the companion plants, but until spring I won’t know what exactly will be on hand. Let me know if you’re interested in something in particular. .

Looking for land?

If you’d like to find your own place to grow in the Ozark mountains of northwest and north-central Arkansas, let me know! I’m a new real estate agent signed with Montgomery Whiteley Realty and I’d be happy to help you pick the perfect, or perfect-for-rehab place of your own. Email me to start the search! .