Humulus lupulus (Common hop) is a dioecious, rhizomatous, twining, perennial herbaceous climbing plant, which sends up new shoots in early spring, grows rapidly and vigorously each year by mid-summer and dies back to the cold-hardy rhizome in autumn. The flower cones of the plant, known as hops, are used in the production of beer to impart bitterness and flavor, but the vine itself is also highly ornamental. It will provide you a good screen that will rapidly cover unattractive structures or can be used as a foliage vine for trellises and arbors, as it needs a support structure on which to climb.
It is in flower from mid to late summer and the seeds ripen from early to mid autumn. The flowers are dioecious - individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant - so both male and female plants must be grown if seeds are required. Flowers emit a pine-like fragrance and are attractive to butterflies.
Humulus lupulus 'Aureus' - golden hop, is a gorgeous climber with large, deep-lobed, yellow-green leaves that turn bright golden yellow in autumn, when it is festooned with greenish-yellow, cone-like flowers that hang like grapes.
It can be easily grown in a fertile, well-drained, humus-rich garden soil, in a place with full sun or semi-shade. Plants are very hardy tolerating temperatures down to about -20 Celsius degrees (-4 F) when dormant. It dies to the ground each winter, so stems may be pruned to the ground in autumn after a hard frost or in the spring, before the young shoots emerge and mulch with well-rotted manure or garden compost.
Sow seeds spring in a cold frame. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and plant out in the summer or following spring. You can also propagate hops by division or basal cuttings in spring or by layering.
If you want to use the hops you can collect them in early autumn when they are ripe.
