Succeeds in any moderately fertile well-drained but moisture retentive soil in a sunny position. Plants are hardy to about -20°c.

Seed - cooked. The seed can be roasted and ground into a powder or used whole as a piñole. Pleasantly bitter, some of this bitterness can be removed by leeching the flour. The leaves are used as a tea substitute.

Seed - sow early spring in a greenhouse or cold frame and only just cover the seed. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. Division in spring. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is best to pot up smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a greenhouse or cold frame until they are growing away well. Plant them out in the summer or the following spring. Basal cuttings in early summer. Harvest the shoots with plenty of underground stem when they are about 8 - 10cm above the ground. Pot them up into individual pots and keep them in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer.

Swales, damp thickets and shores.