Rice
Oryza sativa
First farmed in the Yangtze valley about 9,000 years ago; paddy rice wants flooded beds, but upland rice grows in ordinary wet soil.
Hardiness: zones 6 to 12
Light: full sun
Size: about 3 ft tall, 0.5 ft wide
Harvest: year-round
From: Yangtze valley, China
Here: Hardy in the Lake Erie shore climate (zone 6b to 7a), so it can live outdoors in the ground.
Good for: food.
Native to: East Asia, South & Southeast Asian tropics. Hardy in zones 6 to 12.
The story
Rice was first farmed in the Yangtze valley of China about 9,000 years ago and separately in the Ganges plain; Hemudu villagers 7,000 years ago lived in stilt houses beside their paddies. Today it feeds more than half the world, and Asian rice-fish paddies are among the oldest working farm systems on earth.
Planting
Full sun and a long hot summer (zone 7 and up for a crop). Start seed indoors 6 weeks before warm weather, then set out in a bed, tub or pond edge kept muddy or under an inch or two of water.
Growing
Keep the soil wet or flooded through summer, feed with compost, and weed early. Upland varieties grow in ordinary beds if watered well. It ripens in 3 to 5 months.
Harvest and use
Drain and cut when the heads droop and turn gold; dry the bundles, thresh, then rub or pound off the hulls to get brown rice.
What to watch for
Cool nights that stop it ripening; birds at harvest.
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General guidance, not professional advice. Conditions vary by yard and year; for local specifics ask your county extension office. Never eat a wild plant you cannot identify with certainty. Traditional uses are shared as history, not medical advice. © 2026 Sean Priest · Irie Orchard. Terms & credits · Privacy · Home