If you fancy yourself an expert gardener, then there is one perennial herb that you will probably find both rewarding and challenging to cultivate. Best of all, this plant requires a minimum amount of garden space and physical effort annually, yet it has the potential to net hundreds of dollars down the road if the grower chooses to market the “green gold.”

Ginseng has been used in Asia for thousands of years, and dug here in Eastern North America for hundreds of years for profit, pleasure and its storied medicinal uses. Currently, mature plants in nearby woodlots are transforming into a brilliant yellow hue, the leaves neatly encircling a mass of bright red berries that will hopefully become the next generation.

The plant is scarce nowadays, due primarily to decades of overzealous digging, and loss of suitable habitat capable of supporting the long-lived, but finicky, ginseng.

“Sangers” began planting their own “ginseng gardens” several generations ago when the realization sunk in that mature plants were becoming more difficult to locate, to ensure that they would have a steady supply of easily accessible ginseng root.

I learned about this method of home growing ginseng through the Foxfire series of books. I’ve yet to try my hand at it, but the practice struck me as something that many people may find rewarding. Taking such a valued plant from seed to a mature four-prong plant is not only rewarding monetarily, the grower must also pat himself on the back because ginseng is not an easily domesticated herb.

On the positive side, ginseng does take a long time to mature, so there is plenty of time to learn as you go. A grower’s first harvest of roots from a “woods grown” or wild simulated ginseng garden is usually a minimum of at least five years distant. Although the berries and young rootlets of ginseng are marketable to other hobbyist growers for seed stock, the main interest is the dried roots of mature plants that closely resemble completely wild roots.

The best way to raise this type of root is to start your ginseng plot in a natural setting where the plants must grow around tree roots and rocks to form the twisted and forked specimens dealers seek. This could be a couple of square yards beneath a heavily shaded area of someone’s backyard right in the middle of town, or wooded hillside facing north or east on a tiny portion of the family farm.

This is the great part: The immediate planting site doesn’t have to be measured in acres, tilled with machinery or heavily manipulated. The small area merely needs to meet a few basic criteria involving drainage and shade. Soil suitable for propagating ginseng must be well-drained, shaded overhead at least 75 percent of the daylight hours, and have a lot of organic matter such as decomposing leaves. Some good indicator plants to look for are may apple, ferns and wild ginger that require similar environs. September and October are considered prime planting times for ginseng seeds, as this is when plants naturally begin to lose their berries, which each contain two seeds.

Numerous resources exist for those interested in purchasing seeds or learning more about the hobby. Prices for stratified seeds ready for planting are reasonable, with about 1,500 seeds costing in the neighborhood of $25 on one website I visited. That many seeds would be ample to create several small plots over a number of years to assure that an entire crop would not be knocked out because of an invasion of mice or fungi.

Growing ginseng isn’t like planting sweet corn in the spring and picking plump ears ready for market 80 days later, but for those willing to undertake the challenge, the endeavor is surely a fulfilling one.

— Geordon T. Howell is the outdoors columnist for the Daily News. He can be reached by e-mail at highbrasshowell@yahoo.com.