Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-625
Shiso
Perilla frutescens var crispa
Shiso is a fast-growing mint-family annual whose crinkled leaves taste like nothing else - descriptions of the flavor vary wildly from cinnamon to coriander to citrus, and it is genuinely strange to a palate that has not met it before. Seedlings go into salads whole, mature leaves wrap or garnish food or fry as tempura, and the seed flavors pickles and the Japanese spice blend shichimi. It is also seriously toxic to cattle and horses, causing fatal fluid buildup in the lungs, so it has no place near pasture, hay ground or a feed line. The toxin peaks only when the plant flowers and sets seed in late summer, and mowing or pulling it before then removes the whole toxic stage for the year while leaving a full summer of leaf harvest untouched.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 2–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 5.5–6
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 1–6 ft
- Mature spread
- 12–18 in
- Plant spacing
- 6–12 in
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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Aloe Vera
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Amaranth Greens
Amaranthus tricolor
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Angelica
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The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
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