Plant of the Month June: Forget the craft store – simply grow your own jewelry! 🌾✨

Hello plant lovers! After chocolate mint was my plant of the month in May, I am now putting the absolute star for June in the spotlight. It is a true marvel of nature that many of you may have already discovered in my shop: Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), often also called adlay millet.

Instead of classic grass seeds, this spectacular ornamental grass produces teardrop-shaped, rock-hard, shiny "pearls" that look like hand-polished porcelain. The absolute highlight? Mother Nature has built the hole for stringing them directly into them! So, if you love unique, natural jewelry, all you will need in the future is a flower pot and some patience.

A handsome grass with real "pearls"

In its tropical home, Job's tears is a perennial. Here, it is often cultivated as an annual ornamental grass due to the cold winters – but it can also be wonderfully overwintered frost-free! And it is quite a sight: visually, the plant strongly resembles corn in its early stages. It forms thick, sturdy stalks and broad, lush green leaves. In an ideal location, it easily reaches 60 to 120 cm – sometimes even up to 1.5 meters. Nevertheless, it is perfectly suited for cultivation in large pots and is therefore also a fantastic candidate for urban balcony gardens, as long as the water supply is right (more on that in a moment).

From July to October, the flowers appear, which are initially quite inconspicuous. But then the real spectacle begins: the female flowers develop into teardrop-shaped pseudo-fruits up to 1.5 cm in size. They ripen in a fascinating play of colors – from pearlescent white through silver-gray and blue-gray to deep, almost black tones. When they are ripe, they shine as if they had been freshly lacquered.

Myths, history, and ancient traditions

Job's tears is not just a grass; it is a piece of living cultural history. The name "Job's tears" is derived from the biblical figure of Job. Job endured legendary trials and wept bitter tears of despair, yet kept his faith. The teardrop-shaped pearls of the plant were associated with these tears in folk belief.

The plant also has immense spiritual and historical significance in Asia. For centuries, traditional Buddhist prayer beads (malas) have been made from these extremely hard seeds. In Europe, they were strung into Christian rosaries. Archaeological finds even prove that Job's tears were cultivated in parts of India and China over 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. It was a staple food in many Asian regions long before rice began its great triumphal march there.

Uses: From rosary to dental emergency

• The perfect natural jewelry: The hard shell of the drops is so stable that it cannot be crushed with your fingers. Since the flower stem runs exactly through the middle of the fruit, a perfect, continuous channel is created when the ripe pearl is pulled from the stem. You can thread the pearls immediately without any drilling! You can use them to make bracelets, necklaces, and – since they are completely non-toxic and extremely robust – even natural baby teething rings. In floristry, the branches with the hanging drops are also a dreamlike eye-catcher for autumnal dried bouquets.

• Is this wild form edible? (Warning, tooth killer!): Theoretically yes, practically a clear no! The inner kernel of the seeds is very nutritious and gluten-free, but the extremely hard, porcelain-like shell of our specific wild form (Coix lacryma-jobi var. lacryma-jobi) will shatter any tooth. You would have to arduously crack them with heavy tools. That is exactly why farmers bred a soft-shelled variant (var. ma-yuen) thousands of years ago. Only this soft cultivated form is cooked today in Asia as "adlay" or used for teas. Our hard wild form therefore definitely belongs around your neck or in a vase – not in the cooking pot!

• In natural medicine (TCM): In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the softer seeds are known as "Yi Yi Ren" and are used for drainage, joint pain, and skincare.

Care secrets: The thirsty beauty

As a robust grass, Job's tears is pleasantly insusceptible to most pests. You can therefore focus entirely on the right location without having to immediately deploy beneficial insects like lacewings or ladybug larvae:

• Location: Give it full sun and the warmest spot you can find. It feels most comfortable protected in front of a south-facing wall.

• Soil & watering (The secret!): This is where most people make the mistake! In its homeland, Job's tears is a swamp plant. You won't make it happy with normal, drying potting soil. The soil must be extremely nutrient-rich and, above all, always moist to wet. You can even safely plant it on the swampy edge of your garden pond. If you keep it in a pot on the balcony, it is best to place it in a deep saucer that always has water in it.

• Overwintering: Since it is not hardy here, you can bring it indoors before the first frost. It can be easily overwintered in a bright, cool, and frost-free place. Water it a little less than in summer, but never let the root ball dry out completely!

• Harvest: The jewelry harvest begins in late summer or autumn. As soon as the drops lose their green color, harden, and take on their pearly, grayish-white or dark color, they are ready. If you wait too long, they will fall off all by themselves.

Have you caught the bug to grow your own pearl jewelry? If you don't have my plant of the month for June in your garden yet, you can find the young plants in 7cm pots in my shop as always. I wish you lots of fun planting, watering, and stringing! This way...