Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-659
Dittany Of Crete
Origanum dictamnus
This grey-woolly aromatic sub-shrub is grown mostly for the herbal tea made from its dried flowering tops, sold as Cretan tea, and its leaves add a milder, oregano-like flavor to salads and vermouth. In the wild it grows only on cliffs and rock crevices on the island of Crete, and winter wet rather than cold is what kills it - it needs sharp drainage and struggles anywhere humid. Wild plants are protected and increasingly rare, but nursery-grown stock is cheap and common, so buying a cultivated plant takes pressure off the wild population instead of adding to it. It also resists root-knot nematodes completely, producing no galls even where a tomato planted alongside it would be overrun.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 7–10
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 6–8.5
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 6–12 in
- Mature spread
- 18–24 in
- Plant spacing
- 6–9 in
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
African Blue Basil
Ocimum kilimandscharicum
African Blue Basil is a sterile hybrid between camphor basil and the purple-leaved Dark Opal basil, propagated from cuttings rather than seed…
Shrub · USDA 10–11
Agarita
Alloberberis trifoliolata
Agarita is a dense, spiny-leaved evergreen shrub of rocky limestone hills, slopes and thickets from south Texas through the Trans-Pecos to…
Shrub · USDA 7–9
Aji Amarillo
Capsicum baccatum
Aji Amarillo is a Peruvian yellow-orange chili grown for large, medium-to-very-hot pods used fresh, dried and ground - the backbone of…
Shrub · USDA 9–11
American Beautyberry
Callicarpa americana
American Beautyberry is an arching deciduous shrub of rich woods, moist thickets and swamp edges across the southeastern and south-central…
Shrub · USDA 6–10
American Black Currant
Ribes americanum
American black currant is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub native to the cooler parts of eastern and central North America, from Alberta to…
Shrub · USDA 3–7
American Elderberry
Sambucus canadensis
American Elderberry gives two harvests a year - creamy flower clusters in June for cordial, fritters and tea, and purple-black berries in…
Shrub · USDA 4–8
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference