Re: Growing ingredients (seeds/varieties)

I think germinating perilla seeds can be fickle due to dormancy issues. Some people say they may be dormant for over a year. Personally, instead of dealing with the seeds, I just take cuttings from an existing plant and root them to keep a constant supply of new perilla plants. They are very easy to root in my experience, as long as you keep the cutting in soil in a quite humid container until they form roots. The only drawback of course is that you need an existing perilla plant, but I’ve even been able to root cuttings found in a korean grocery store. Hope that gives some good suggestions. I’m zone 7 so I guess your mileage may vary.