“My family used to grow their own food in Korea. They lived by rivers, harvesting fish, so being sustainable is a very familiar thing,” Margaret Cho says. The stand-up comedian and actor is well-known for her jokes and social critiques — but not as well-known is her enthusiasm for gardening, which runs in her family. During her youth in San Francisco, Cho’s parents and grandparents would frequently go camping and fishing. And in both California and Korea, her ancestors would forage for fernbrake — a fiddlehead some cultures steam or stir-fry.
“But now, people can buy it at Asian grocery stores,” Cho says. “It was such a beautiful thing to find them in the Korean grocery store.”
Fiddleheads aren’t the only plants Cho’s family “foraged.” “My family always had gardens, and my grandparents would always take us to conservatories and arboretums while I was growing up,” Cho says. “I realize now that they were stealing things to propagate. So, don’t do that! But my family always had huge gardens — due to their thievery! It was something they were astutely doing for many years.” Now, years later, Cho is able to reach into her own garden to snag bountiful harvests.
Eating off the Vine
“To me, the idea of growing food is so exciting and fun,” Cho says. At her home in Southern California, she grows a Japanese tomato cultivar named ‘Aiko,’ a highly productive and disease-resistant indeterminate tomato. The flavor isn’t too sweet, and the fruits rarely split. She chose the variety from a local nursery because she wanted a quick harvest time. She also observed that the microclimates in the nursery mirrored those of her backyard, ensuring the tomatoes would grow well.
She also grows a patch of ‘Albion’ strawberries, a recently developed hybrid in California. Other fruits in her garden include three types of pineapple, guava, mangos, and a ton of herbs, including hyssop, basil, and sage.
“There’s nothing better than picking strawberries and tomatoes right off the vines. To me, it’s just so joyful,” Cho says.
With the intense drought, Cho has been switching to xeriscaping, which requires little or no irrigation. “Now, I’m focusing on Lithops, which don’t need anything, and they’re so beautiful and so cool. They’re in my cactus garden that’s right in front of my house. I haven’t used any pesticides, insecticides, or chemical barriers on my vegetables or fruits, and, in turn, they’ve all been eaten by squirrels, so I guess I’m helping that community quite a bit.”
Just as she pursues humor in her career, she also loves the plants that make her laugh. I first contacted Cho when I learned she had started growing carnivorous plants, including Sarracenia pitcher plants, sundews, and several cultivars of Venus flytraps.
“I love all the weird-looking plants. The Lithops are so comical. All of the stuff in the bogs are so maintenance-free,” Cho says. “They’re the most carefree plants, because they’re always sitting in the distilled water. And I just top off the water by an inch or so, and there’s nothing to it. It’s incredible.”
In her cactus garden, Cho also has a hallucinogenic cactus, which she says she won’t try, but she appreciates that it’s there. For those edible plants that do need a drink, Cho saves water from the outdoor bathtub. “I just don’t use any soap or anything in the tub — so it’s like grey water. I take all my watering cans and fill them up. And I’m the only one eating all of the plants, so it doesn’t matter — well, me and all of the animals around the neighborhood here are eating the crops.” Cho also collects water while heating up the indoor shower.
Cho emphasizes how rewarding gardening is. “Adding herbs and containers to your spring garden is so gratifying and simple. All it requires is sunlight, time, and a little water, and you’re gifted with something extraordinary. And it just tastes better if you grew it.”
While she waters the herbs as needed, she’s found that members of the mint family are incredibly easy to keep. “I have huge bales of catnip. They’re so resilient, you pretty much don’t have to do anything, and they’ll grow.” She’s also growing cat grass from seed. “It’s a big planter that I used for storage before, but then I thought I could create a summer bed for the cats.”
Margaret’s Menagerie
Cho lives with a dog and three cats (two of which are hairless). She’s repurposed a chicken coop into one of her five “catios” (cat patios) on the property. Her hairless cats are sun-worshippers, but they need protection from ultraviolet waves. “I provide them UV screens. They’re very well cared for when they’re outside; they follow me but are protected in the catio.”
And the cats’ containment in the catio also protects the birds that visit. Currently, Cho has 28 bird feeders and four solar-powered fountains. At the feeders, you can often see birds hanging out with Cho, awaiting their next meal. “I’m trying to feed different species,” Cho says. “I’m also trying to manage the waste, because I don’t want to use cleaners on my deck, so I position [the feeders] over dirt, so I can maybe plant something there later.”
Currently, Cho has a balance of hummingbird, suet, and nyjer feeders. She added bark butter to entice woodpeckers that live behind her property. “I can hear them. I’m trying to draw them from the large forest.”
Cho says bird-watching and feeding is a fairly new hobby she started during quarantine. “I’ve got a lot of house finches, goldfinches, grackles, lesser goldfinches, and lots of ravens and crows. Occasionally, I’ll have a white banded pigeon visit me. I have a net under the bird feeders that catches the fallen seed. The pigeon will lay in the net like a hammock — it’s so cute.”
Due to drought, Cho has seen other wildlife, even bears, come down from the mountains into her neighborhood. Her yard is also frequented by deer and rabbits. Wildlife pilfer from her trees, and Cho’s happy to share, even with more surprising visitors.
“The other day, I thought someone had taken off their pantyhose,” Cho laughs, “and it was a huge skin of a snake. But it was really a large snake — it looked at least 8 feet long, so the snake that came out of it must’ve been bigger!”
Homesteading in SoCal
Cho says her next steps toward sustainability will include changing out her hybrid car for a fully electric one and adding solar to her house.
“There’s so much possibility with solar. I pretty much live outside. I have solar polar lights and lanterns outside, so I don’t use any electricity when I’m outside, which is great. For me to have the ability to light up everything in the yard with the sun both day and night is really wonderful,” Cho says.
Cho’s aspirations also include practical kitchen activities: Since the start of the pandemic, Cho has started making sourdough bread and panzanella salads and using her herbs in teas and garnishes. She enjoys watching Maangchi, an NYC-based Korean chef. Cho has Maangchi’s cookbook and is confident that one day she’ll make Maangchi’s doenjang recipe — a fermented bean paste that requires a year of fermentation.
Kenny Coogan has a master’s degree in global sustainability, assists with MOTHER EARTH NEWS podcast production, and is passionate about Florida’s wildlife and plants. His newest book, Florida’s Carnivorous Plants, is available now.