lected wild hop seed, grew seedlings, planted a fifty-foot long hop yard (a tall trellis) and last summer, harvested four bushels of fresh hops. What to do with so many hops? We gave them to Six Mile Bridge Brewery of course (owned by Lindsay and Ryan Sherring) in Maryland Heights, Missouri, who produced a delicious citrusy saison. This experimental batch was the first of what we hope will grow into many more tasty beers concocted with Shaw Nature Reserve native hops. Though they are easy to grow, native hops need a frequent thinning to produce a decent quantity of fruit. Vines need to be trained on a trellis that is at least 8 to 10 feet tall, or even higher. The other thing to keep in mind is that plants are dioecious. That means that male and female plants are separate. Only female plants produce hops, so it is to your advantage to have more female plants and fewer (or no) male plants. There are more and more home and craft brewers using specialty hops, and quite a few of them are growing their own. There is also a handful of foragers, looking for hops growing in the wild. Though it is legal to collect seed along roadsides in Missouri, it would be challenging to find enough wild hops for anything but a small home brew operation. I recommend growing them at home on a trellis. If you are interested in acquiring seed of wild hops for your homebrew operation, Shaw Nature Reserve can supply you with starter seed packets. I cannot think of a better way to spend time, than to turn the sun’s rays into a golden pint of beer. Happy brewing, y’all!
SCOTT WOODBURY Horticulturist 8
August 2022 | kcgmag.com
Photo by Scott Woodbury.
s Doug Tallamy likes to say, plants turn sunlight into food. All life benefits from this, especially you and me. Attending the Saint Louis Zoo’s Pollinator Dinner annually in June is an eye-opening reminder of the importance of sunlight, pollinators, and native plants. I highly recommend it. The food is creatively prepared and delicious. Each dish is the happy result of pollination of the ingredients of the dishes, by bees or other insects. For example, squash is pollinated by squash bees. Chestnuts are pollinated by common bumble bees (and the wind). Dishes at the 2022 Pollinator Dinner included sumac and cornmeal-crusted catfish, charred wild garlic and sorrel maple brined turkey, bison hand pies, roasted squash with a pumpkin seed pesto, roasted burdock, wild grape dumplings, grape syrup, and chestnut crumble, to name a few. Wow! In recent years I’ve come to appreciate a new native plant for its ability to transform sunlight into golden drops of beer. Wild hops (Humulus lupulus) is native in Missouri along railroads and roadsides. I first noticed it in Pacific, Missouri, growing along an abandoned railroad at the edge of town. I’ve since seen it growing wild in hedgerows and woodland edges more widely. It even grows at Shaw Nature Reserve at an undisclosed location. (“Undisclosed” because brewers are collecting wild hops in other parts of the country, but collecting on private property in Missouri is prohibited.) Wild fresh harvested hops are a sought-after ingredient that makes really great beer.I can confirm this because four years ago we col-
Humulus lupulus Hops
Pouring a glass of golden drops of sun! Photo by Scott Woodbury.
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A Golden Drop of Sun: Tinkering with Wild Hops
Wild hops growing on trellises at Shaw Nature Reserve. The female flowers (the hops) from these plants were used to create this special brew crafted by Six Mile Bridge Brewery.
Scott Woodbury was the horticulturist at Shaw Nature Reserve for 30 years and stepped down from that position in June 2022. He continues to work on contract for Shaw Nature Reserve to carry out native landscaping education, and has launched his own business called Cacalia: Native Garden Design and Wilding.
