11 Perennial Root Vegetables for Your Garden
Can you grow perennial root vegetables? What about harvesting them? Won’t that just kill the plant? It turns out there are a number of root crops that can be grown as perennial vegetables, saving you time and energy. Keep reading to learn about 11 great perennial root vegetables and how to get them in your garden.
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You may be familiar with perennial vegetables, the plants that keep coming back to give you new harvests year after year. But often people just think about the perennial greens. These are fairly easy plants to grow, and it makes sense that you can grow them as perennials since you just harvest a few leaves at a time, leaving the rest of the plant intact.
Perennial Vegetables Series
Want to learn more about perennial vegetables? Check out this series to learn more about these fantastic perennial foods.
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But perennial root vegetables? That seems a bit weird. Plants can rebound from a lot of things, but they definitely need the root! How can a plant keep coming back each year if you harvest the root?
Not a problem. For some perennial root vegetables, you only need to harvest some of the roots at a time. The plant will spread, giving you fresh harvests again and again. With other perennial roots, you can replant some of the tubers as you harvest them for next year’s crop.
Wait—Are the ones you replant really perennial? Since you replant them at the moment you harvest them, I consider them to be perennial. If you have to store them out of the ground, then to me that’s not really a perennial plant, (though the definition is a bit fuzzy).
By growing perennial root vegetables, you can ensure a steady harvest of root crops for your family and community, year after year, with minimal effort.
Here are some great ones to get you started. There’s a lot of information here, but don’t worry about taking notes—we’ve created a free and easy-to-print cheat-sheet with all the information you need to get going.
Growing Perennial Root Vegetables
There are a lot more perennial root vegetables than the 11 in this post. Sweet potatoes is an example of one not highlighted in this post. Image by saint1533 on Pixabay.
There are a lot more perennial root vegetables out there, but these 11 should get you off to a great start.
For this post, I included some plants where the part you harvest is not technically a root, even though it grows in the ground. Perennial Egyptian walking onions are an example.
But since these vegetables grow in the ground, I decided to lump them in with the true root crops. They all fill the same niche in the garden.
For each of the 11 perennial root vegetables, you’ll find the following information:
- Brief description
- YouTube video with additional information (when available)
- USDA climate zone
- Timing of the first harvest
- Sunlight requirements
- Plant size at maturity
- How to harvest it, (and still keep it as a perennial,) and a link with more information
- Place to purchase seeds, tubers, etc.
I made sure to include at least one perennial root vegetable for each USDA Climate Zone ranging from 3 to 10.
What's in a Zone?
Perennial root vegetables are the hardy winter warriors that survive the cold and live to fight another day, year after year. But of course, “winter” varies quite a bit from one place to the next. A perennial in southern California might be an annual in the Pacific Northwest.
The USDA Climate Zone helps you match up your winter conditions with what the plants need to survive, so you can see which root crops will work for you.
The 11 perennial root vegetables covered in this post are:
- Arrowhead—Sagittaria latifolia
- Egyptian Walking Onion—Allium x proliferum
- Skirret—Sium sisarum
- Sunchokes—Helianthus tuberosus
- Springbank Clover—Trifolium wormskioldii
- Achira—Canna discolor
- American Groundnut—Apios americana
- Chinese Artichoke—Stachys affinis
- Common Camas—Camassia quamash
- Oca—Oxalis tuberosa
- Pacific Waterleaf—Hydrophyllum tenuipes
If you want information on more perennial vegetables than I cover in this post, then be sure to check out Eric Toensmeier’s excellent book on the subject. This book covers over 100 perennial vegetables, including perennial root vegetables.
Ready for 11 awesome perennial root vegetables? Here we go.
Wild Tip: Gardening with Perennial Root Vegetables
In order to keep root crops as perennials, you often need to be able to leave some of the harvest behind each year and let it multiply underground.
You’ll also find that a lot of these plants spread pretty rapidly, and that means you need space.
Also, some of them take years to produce a harvest, so you have to harvest them on a multi-year cycle. This means you need to be able to keep track of which ones are where and how old they are.
Instead of planting perennial root crops in the middle of your normal kitchen garden, consider designating a space for them where they can do their thing. You can still mix in other plants with the perennial root vegetables—large perennials like shrubs and trees would be a great fit.
If you’re looking for tidy rows of plants coming up right where you want them, the majority of the plants on this list won’t work for you. But if you’re open to letting the plant work its magic underground, you’ll be rewarded for your cooperation with abundant harvests of bountiful root crops year after year, without any spring planting.
Arrowhead—Sagittaria latifolia
Arrowhead, (also known as wapato, Indian potato, or duck potato) is a fantastic water-loving perennial root vegetable. You’ll need a pond or wet area to grow it, but given the right space, it can provide you with some excellent tubers that can be used just like a potato. You can even make potato chips!
The taste falls somewhere between a sweet potato and a yam, with a hint of sweet chestnuts. Each plant can yield up to 40 tubers per year.Info on Arrowhead
Egyptian Walking Onions—Allium x proliferum
There are several types of perennial onions, but the Egyptian walking onion, or tree onion, is a great option if you want a never-ending supply of onions. These onions are called walking onions because in addition to the regular onion bulb, they grow small bulbs at the top of their green stalks. These stalks then fall over due to the weight and the small bulbs will root at that point resulting in a new plant. The onion has “walked”.
Info on Egyptian Walking Onion
Skirret—Sium sisarum
Skirret is an old perennial root vegetable from Europe that fell out of favor but used to be very popular. Potentially, it stopped being cultivated as our agricultural system switched to a more intensive and mechanized model. But skirret can be a great addition to your property. It grows and produces best in a moist environment, though it can be grown in a garden given enough water. But if you have an area that stays wet, then skirret could be a great option for you.
The root crop is sweet and similar to its distant cousin, the carrot.
Info on Skirret
Sunchokes—Helianthus tuberosus
Also known as Jerusalem artichokes, sunchokes were first cultivated in North America before the arrival of Europeans. Sunchokes look similar to sunflowers and produce large amounts of sweet, edible tubers. They have the habit of spreading, so it’s best to dedicate an area to them. If they spread outside that area, you can just harvest them.
Some people have trouble digesting sunchokes, resulting in gas. Cooking sunchokes for longer periods of time and waiting to harvest until after the first couple of frosts may help with this issue.
Info on Sunchokes
Springbank Clover—Trifolium wormskioldii
Springbank clover unlike most clover develops rhizomes that can be harvested. Image Credit: Eric in SF.
Like all clovers, springbank clover is a nitrogen-fixing plant, but this clover also produces edible rhizomes that used to be a staple for native peoples in the western United States. These rhizomes taste a lot like Chinese beansprouts. As a perennial root vegetable, springbank clover can provide a harvest while also improving the soil.
Native to the western United States, springbank clover is normally found growing in moist or wet meadows and streambanks.
Info on Springbank Clover
Achira—Canna discolor
A fun, tropical-looking plant that makes for a great ornamental in addition to an excellent perennial root vegetable. Achira produces large, edible rhizomes with a neutral flavor, which are similar in many ways to a potato. The flowers of achira attract all sorts of pollinators, including hummingbirds.
Info on Achira
American Groundnut—Apios americana
Nope, these are not peanuts. In fact, they’re not even a nut. American groundnut is related to peas and beans, and it produces tubers connected by a rhizome. High in protein, these tubers can be used like a potato (though you may want to remove the skin first). American groundnut grows as a vine, and it’s also a nitrogen fixer, which is unusual for a perennial root vegetable.
Info on American Groundnut
Chinese Artichoke—Stachys affinis
These are not really artichokes and are actually in the mint family. So be careful where you plant them, because like mint, they can spread. But this also makes them a very productive perennial root vegetable.
Info on Chinese Artichokes
Common Camas—Camassia quamash
A beautiful flowering bulb native to the western United States, camas was and is a very important food crop for native peoples, and it’s a great perennial root vegetable. Very high in protein, this is a great staple food crop. But it does require a long cooking time (12-18 hours, or even up to 36 hours!) to get the most from the bulbs. It has a sweet taste once fully cooked, but it can be bitter if it’s not cooked long enough.
Info on Common Camas
Oca—Oxalis tuberosa
Oca is a very interesting plant from the Andes, from the same area that potatoes originated. These are challenging to truly grow as a perennial, but you can replant some of the tubers you harvest for the next year’s crop.
Info on Oca
Pacific Waterleaf—Hydrophyllum tenuipes
Pacific waterleaf is a fantastic perennial root vegetable (and perennial green!) for the shady areas of your property. Providing both greens and roots in the shade makes it hard to beat. Image by Walter Siegmund CC BY 2.5
Pacific waterleaf is a great shade-loving vegetable that’s also a native plant in western Washington. It produces edible leaves that are great in salads or cooked, and it also produces edible rhizomes. The rhizomes taste similar to Chinese beansprouts. Pacific waterleaf spreads readily and makes a great addition to any shady growing area you have.
Info on Pacific Waterleaf
Getting Started with Perennial Root Vegetables
Are you ready to get started with perennial root vegetables? Image Credit: Cultivariable
So, are you ready to grow your own perennial root vegetables? By adding these vegetables to your garden or property, you will have a never-ending supply of root crops for your family and community.
But these are not the only perennial vegetables you can grow. Make sure to check out my blog post all about perennial greens so you can have a never-ending salad to go with all those root crops!
If these vegetables sound great to you, then I would recommend picking 1 from the list and just starting with that. Add it to your garden and see how it does, so you can see if you even like growing and eating it.
Then add another the following year, and keep this going for several years.
Before you know it, you’ll have a wide range of perennial root vegetables growing on your property, providing you with endless low-maintenance abundance.
Wild Tip: Gardening with Perennial Root Vegetables
In order to keep root crops as perennials, you often need to be able to leave some of the harvest behind each year and let it multiply underground.
You’ll also find that a lot of these plants spread pretty rapidly, and that means you need space.
Also, some of them take years to produce a harvest, so you have to harvest them on a multi-year cycle. This means you need to be able to keep track of which ones are where and how old they are.
Instead of planting perennial root crops in the middle of your normal kitchen garden, consider designating a space for them where they can do their thing. You can still mix in other plants with the perennial root vegetables—large perennials like shrubs and trees would be a great fit.
If you’re looking for tidy rows of plants coming up right where you want them, the majority of the plants on this list won’t work for you. But if you’re open to letting the plant work its magic underground, you’ll be rewarded for your cooperation with abundant harvests of bountiful root crops year after year, without any spring planting.
For more strategies on how to add perennial vegetables to your property, check out my introduction post into perennial vegetables.
So what are you waiting for? Get started with perennial root vegetables today.
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