  
 
Humulus, hop, is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae, which also includes cannabis. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Humulus lupulus is the main ingredient of many beers, and as such is widely cultivated for use by the brewing industry. The fragrant flower cones impart bitterness and flavor, and also have preservative qualities. They are usually grown up strings called a hopfield or hop garden. The edible leaves and shoots are delicious and eaten either cooked or in salads. Medicinally hops are used as a sedative and relaxant. Sleeping on a pillow filled with hops is said to help insomnia. Hops contain several characteristics favourable to beer, balancing the sweetness of the malt with bitterness, contributing flowery, citrus, fruity or herbal aromas, and having an antibiotic effect that favours the activity of brewer's yeast. If you want to create your own beer with the freshest hops in the world ... grow your own.   
  Depending on growing conditions you may get up to 1kg of dried hop flowers per plant. Flavour and aroma is based a lot on soil conditions, but it is safe to say that the hops you grow would be unique! Any well-drained fertile soil will be fine. Although frequently referred to as the hop "vine", it is technically a bine. It is a perennial herbaceous plant which sends up new shoots in early spring and dies back to the cold-hardy rhizome in autumn. Hop shoots grow very rapidly, and at the peak of growth can grow 20 to 50 cm per week. Hop bines climb by wrapping clockwise around anything within reach, and individual bines typically grow between 2 to 15 metres depending on what is available to grow on.
In the garden the plant will grow over fences and walls, it can also be grown over an arbor to great effect. This fast growing vine can be grown in full sun or in shade and is fairly nondescript until the small, cone-shaped hops appear. It is very ornamental, with the light green hops hanging from wiry tendrils. As a dried flower the hops work nicely as cut material, a charming addition to an autumn floral arrangement harvested from the garden. The pale green dried herb makes beautiful garlands and wreaths. 
   
  
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