February 8, 2023
Emmett Gartner
Photo via the Frederick News Post.
Had retired veterinarian Dr. Ray Ediger not grown up in the Pacific Northwest, he might not have thought much of the monstrous plant that sprawled its vines across a fence outside his farmhouse in Frederick County.
Ediger, however, had spent summers picking beer-bound hops in Oregon. He said it was a common summer job for Oregon youths.
His knowledge allowed him to identify this backyard monstrosity as what it was — a hop plant, a rarity in a state with Maryland’s climate, where hops are typically brought in from the Pacific Northwest and propagated with some difficulty…
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