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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-581
Oregano
Origanum vulgare
Oregano is a rhizomatous Mediterranean perennial grown almost entirely as a dried culinary herb, though the leaf can be used fresh too. Its highest-rated use is not food or medicine but everything else it does in a garden - the growing plant repels ants and many insect pests, its flowers draw bees and butterflies, and it is even said to improve the flavour of plants growing near it. It also works as a slow-spreading, sun-loving ground cover, creeping outward by rhizome and self-seeding at the same time, which is easily kept in bounds with an edged bed or a mown margin. It prefers dry, alkaline, well-drained soil and full sun, tolerates real summer heat and humidity, and is hardy to about -20 C.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 4–8
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 5–8
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 12–36 in
- Mature spread
- 12–24 in
- Plant spacing
- 12–36 in
- Root type
- Rhizome
- Spread pattern
- Both
Keep exploring
Similar plants
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Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
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African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
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Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimony is a slender herbaceous perennial of sunny, disturbed ground across Europe and western Asia, grown mainly for the tannin-rich leaves…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume grown worldwide as one of the richest forage crops available, its taproot running six metres or…
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Amaranth Greens
Amaranthus tricolor
Amaranth greens are one of the few leafy vegetables actually built for peak summer heat rather than one that just tolerates it - sown once…
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Angelica
Angelica archangelica
Angelica is a very large, short-lived umbellifer grown for its candied stem and aromatic root - the thick young stalks are peeled and boiled…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–7
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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