You can buy nice-sized fresh Chinese (SHAN YAO) or Japanese (NAGAIMO) yam
roots from an Asian grocer. I've had success planting NAGAIMO from the grocery store. Just look for a nice-sized, fresh-looking chunk. They aren't expensive either. Asian grocers or coops are great places to find plant starts. Other things that I've successfully planted are: ginger (organic from Costco); lemongrass, tumeric, chayote, Jerusalem artichokes, taro (from my regional store chain that that stocks more uncommon stuff);
water chestnuts (Asian grocer).
I've also had a lot of failures but the monetary outlay is low so I'm willing to try many things.