Grow Your Own Japanese Indigo: From Seed to Pigment
Are you ready to grow your own Japanese Indigo and unlock nature’s most stunning blue shades? Whether you’re a seasoned natural dyer or new to growing dye plants, 2025 is the perfect year to start your indigo-growing journey!
Japanese Indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) has been used for centuries to produce rich blues and teals, and now you can experience the magic for yourself. Our brand-new Growing Japanese Indigo Kit, created in collaboration with Bailiwick Blue, provides everything you need to grow, harvest, and extract colour from this incredible dye plant.
Why Grow Japanese Indigo?
Japanese Indigo is one of the most powerful and sustainable sources of natural blue dye. Unlike synthetic dyes, which are often harmful to the environment, growing your own indigo allows you to create beautiful colours using only plants and traditional techniques.
🌱 Fast-growing & easy to cultivate – Perfect for gardens, raised beds, or large pots.
💙 A sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes – Grow, harvest, and dye your own textiles naturally.
🎨 Multiple dyeing techniques – Experiment with fresh leaf dyeing, traditional fermentation vats, or flower pounding.
🌿 Connect with the natural dyeing process – Experience the full journey from seed to pigment.
From Seed to Pigment: How to Grow &
Use Japanese Indigo
While we won’t give away all our secrets (that’s what our Growing Japanese Indigo Kit is for!), here’s a glimpse into the journey:
1️⃣ Sow & Grow – Start your seeds in early spring for the best results. They thrive in warm, sunny conditions.
2️⃣ Tend & Harvest – The leaves develop the highest pigment content at peak maturity—timing is key!
3️⃣ Extract & Transform – Unlock indigo’s natural pigment through fresh leaf dyeing or fermentation to extract the pigment to use in a vat.
What Can You Do with Your Homegrown Indigo?
One of the most exciting parts of growing Japanese indigo is discovering the many ways you can transform your harvest into beautiful shades of blue. Here are just a few techniques to explore once your plants are ready:
🌿 Fresh Leaf Dyeing – Use freshly harvested leaves to create soft greens and teals, perfect for adding subtle, natural tones to your textiles.
💧 Pigment Extraction for Indigo Vats – Unlock the rich, deep blues that indigo is famous for by extracting pigment and creating your own indigo vat—just like traditional dyers have done for centuries.
🌱 Leaf Pounding – Use whole leaves to imprint botanical patterns directly onto fabric, capturing the essence of your plants in vibrant detail.
👕 Refresh Your Wardrobe – From silk scarves to wool skeins and old favourites in your wardrobe, indigo is a stunning, natural way to breathe new life into your textiles.
The beauty of working with plant dyes is that every batch is unique, shaped by the season, the soil, and your own creative process. ✨
A Special Collaboration with Bailiwick Blue 💙
Our new Growing Japanese Indigo Kit is a special collaboration with Bailiwick Blue, and working with George has been an incredible experience. Her expertise in heritage pigments and sustainable indigo production has been truly inspiring.
We’re thrilled to combine our knowledge to make growing and dyeing with indigo accessible to everyone—whether you’re a beginner or an experienced dyer. 🌿✨
💡 Did you know? Bailiwick Blue processes over 30 kilos of dried indigo pigment every year, helping to keep the tradition of natural blue dyeing alive in a sustainable way!
What’s Inside the Growing Japanese Indigo Kit?
To make growing Japanese Indigo as simple and rewarding as possible, we’ve created a complete Growing Japanese Indigo Kit, which includes:
🌱 Two varieties of Japanese Indigo (Senbon & Maruba) for diverse colour potential
🪴 Eight wool pots for easy seed starting
🌿 Two handmade oak plant labels to track your plants as they grow
📖 An extensive how-to guide covering growing, harvesting, and pigment extraction
🧪 pH test papers to help you optimise the dyeing process
Whether you’re planting in your garden, on a balcony, or in a greenhouse, this kit makes growing Japanese Indigo accessible for everyone.
