I have been cultivating a small patch of bloodroot for several years. I carefully dig out just a few rhizomes and leave the plants to grow. This has served me well; the patch has slowly grown. But this patch is not in a secluded area. Sure enough, when I returned this fall to dig my patch was gone. Completely gone as if it had never existed. I poked around and it seems like someone dug out the entire patch sometime in the Spring, because weeds and grass were growing over it. The other, surrounding plants were unharmed. I can only hope they added it to their garden and didn't use all of it for medicinal purposes. I can get more, but this plant is protected so I have to be very careful, I don't want to harvest anywhere it's not abundant and I don't want to damage it. So, for now it looks like I will be purchasing my organic bloodroot. I have created a slightly raised shade garden with appropriate soil and planted bloodroot, black cohosh, stoneroot, and goldenseal, all organically grown. I'm not sure how long I have to wait before I can harvest, but that's ok. I will also purchase some plants for spring that are already established. My sunny windows are filled with tender herbaceous plants I am wintering over and there's no room for more!
