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SWEETGRASS (Hierochloe odorata) grown by our customers, around the United States, alphabetically by State.

Redwood City Seed Company, Box 361, Redwood City, CA 94064
(650) 325-7333. Photo credits noted, and are licensed for use on this web page from the copyright owners by Craig & Sue Dremann, and cannot be used or reproduced without written permission.

Grown in the forest near the house, plants are fenced to keep out the squirrels, rabbits, lemmings, moose, and the occasional grizzlies and brown bears that wandering through the property.

Here are the pictures of my grass growing in the planter box my husband built. As you can see with the yard stick the grass was over 25 inches long when we cut it, and I didn't use any type of system to keep the grass more exposed to the sun. Now I will see if I can get it to grow even longer by installing a support system like is described in the web-site.

Last weekend I gathered my first harvest and dried it using the freeze drying method instructions also provided on your website. Now my workroom smells wonderful with the sweetgrass in here and I will soon begin another basket with my own sweetgrass. See her first basket, here.

MINNESOTA, grown by Patrick Cheeseman:

Here are some pictures from a few years ago. My son, Brett, is adopted and part Apache. He thought this would be a good project to make money and be in his heritage. We haven't sold any yet but enjoy giving or trading it away, and using it ourselves. We made little
braids for a Montana History class in Whitehall, MT.

We are just below the Continental Divide near Butte, MT. Two years ago I buried the planters (from your pattern) in my house garden which is south facing below the deck. The chickens found it to take dust baths because of it being south facing, dry, and soft. So the
sweetgrass got alternately dug up and buried. Not good.

So for last winter I took straw bales leftover from fall concrete work, and dirt scraped from the garage worksite, and made this deal to protect the sweetgrass planters over winter. I put plastic down (also leftover construction) on the grass because I wanted to kill it and put another garden there this spring. I did raise the planters up off the plastic so there would be drainage. The south facing side of this deal did not have straw bales, so any sunshine could hit the soil and planters. We are in a canyon so we don't get much sun to begin with.

In summer, we put the sweetgrass planters up on sawhorses or stands we built, because the first year we had trouble with grasshoppers at ground level. Somehow putting them up on stands made them safe from the hoppers. Also the blood meal or bone meal is very attractive to the dogs, and they would dig up the planters, ruining the sweetgrass.

We really like our sweetgrass plantation!

The last picture is the cemetary in Wyoming where Sacajawea has a headstone. We left obsidian and sweetgrass as an offering.

Here are two pictures from May 2011, with the sweetgrass flowers and the sweetgrass boxes, getting ready to get divided into new boxes.


July 2011, plants exploding out of the planter boxes.

July 2011 plants growing in boxes, cutting and drying and made into braids

Sweetgrass braids, some with the seedheads braided in.

Sweetgrass planters, with supports for leaves.

Sweetgrass summer 2008, plants getting started.

Sweetgrass May 2010, Godzilla is 14 inches tall.

Sweetgrass May 2010.

[Craig Dremann adds: Dried sweetgrass harvests are available seasonally on her eBay store, seller=kkausten]

Plants purchased in April 16, 2010, put in pots and May 7th they were put into the ground. This shows different stages of cutting. We are averaging four braids per plant, 16 to 20 inches long and by the end of August had produced about 100 braids.

We had to dig a trench about 6 inches deep, and take out the clay and then sift the rocks from the good soil, and that was amended with perlite, sand and potting soil.

Only organic fertilizer being used--blood meal, bone meal and fish emulsion. We will have braids available, contact me at my wife's email. Braids average 16-20 in. long.done in a tight braid, and you can see a picture of the braid's nice color and the aroma is awesome.


Two original rows, and a new row being prepared and planted on the left, and bags of perlite, potting soil and fertilizers can be seen. [Craig Dremann adds: Notice the four foot wide weedstop fabric between rows, like the design on our web page for large-scale plantings].

OKLAHOMA, grown by Sharon Owen:

Photos of one of my grandkids with her doll - both girls helped dry & sort & braid the sweetgrass that day. As you can see, they also wore some of the sweetgrass - in bundles & in braids. The kids made little-bitty sweetbraids for their hair & their dolls. We also hung some little braids and/or tiny bags of broken pieces on our vehicles' rear view mirrrors. We didn't care how long the scent lasted - we love the smell no matter what. It beats the old felt pine tree air fresheners!

PENNSYLVANIA, grown by Ron Hoffman:

Picture above, taken three weeks after planting, in July 2009.

One year later.

Sweetgrass plants about one year later, in June 2010.

We are looking for pictures for this web page, of our sweetgrass plants being grown in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Midway Island, Mississipi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, US Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Call Craig at (650) 325-7333 if you have pictures of your sweetgrass plants for posting.