Oh Boy! Oregano!!
As part of an herb garden, Oregano is the superstar! With its aromatic foliage and small white, pink, or purple flowers Oregano puts on quite a show. Oregano can be grown in an herb garden, used as groundcover in a flower garden, or in a container right next to your kitchen sink to be plucked fresh as needed.
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There are 2 types of Oregano: cooking and showy. Cooking
Oregano has spicy leaves and is used for seasoning. Some cooking varieties include Greek Oregano, Common Oregano, Compact Oregano, Dark Oregano, Origanum viride, and Herrenhausen. Cooking Oregano varies in taste from the full-bodied Greek Oregano to the less tasty Common Oregano. The flavor of Cooking Oregano improves and intensifies with drying. Showy Oregano has lovely tubular flowers that bloom in summer. Showy Oregano plants include Hopley’s Purple, Golden Creeping Oregano, Kent Beauty, Origanum microphylla, and Showy Oregano. Showy Oregano is edible and does well in sunny areas. Their flowers are often used in wreaths and dried flower arrangements.
Purchasing & Planting
When purchasing Oregano for planting purchase plants grown from cuttings or divisions. It is best to purchase Oregano plants from a nursery specializing in herbs to ensure a flavorful quality. Do not purchase oregano plants with no fragrance or yellowed leaves.
Before planting spread compost over a 3 ft by 1 ½ feet area. Dig compost into the soil about 4 inches deep. Remove the Oregano plants from their pots. If there are roots circling outside the rootball, cut the rootball back ¼ inch. Be sure your planting holes are twice as wide as they are deep. Space your planting holes about 1 ½ feet apart and plant the Oregano at the same depth it was in the pot. Water well. The leaves can be harvested from summer to fall. Cut plants back hard in summer when buds appear and again in late summer.
Growing Tips
Oregano prefers full sun to light shade. It needs at least 6 hours of direct sun daily for best flavor. Soil must be well-drained and of an average to poor quality. Oregano makes an excellent companion plant to Broccoli and Cabbage. It is most flavorful just before flowering.
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Showy Oregano is an excellent plant for edging to walkways and patios. Showy Oregano will grow quickly and choke out its neighboring plants so you must prune regularly. At the end of the season be sure to cut back Showy Oregano severely.
Oregano can suffer from spider mites. These small 8-legged insects will cause yellow leaves and webbing on the tips of stems. Wash them off with a hard spray of water from a hose. If your Oregano plants have yellow leaves or soft and rotting stems the soil is too wet. Discard affected plants and move them to a sunny well-drained site.
Seasonal Care
For seasonal care being in spring by planting your Oregano plants after danger of frost has passed. Cut sprigs from plants all summer just before flowers open for best taste. You can dry whole stems by tying them together and hanging in a dry dark place. Then crumble them just before adding to sauces or stews. The following spring divide your existing plants. To divide cut plants from outside of a clump with a sharp spade or trowel. Replant immediately.
Varieties of Oregano
If you want to plant cooking Oregano there are several varieties to choose from. Greek Oregano has bright green leaves with white flowers and is best for cooking with a full-bodied classic flavor. Greek Oregano grows best in zones 4-10. Common Oregano has gray-green leaves with a mild flavor. This type of Oregano has white flowers and spreads rapidly. Common Oregano is most suited to zones 4-10. Compact Oregano is a miniature Oregano plant with flavorful leaves that grows best in zones 4-10. Dark Oregano has large green flavorful leaves with white flowers. It can get up to 2 feet high and flourishes in zones 4-10. Origanum viride has white flowers with oval, gray-green leaves and a sweet flavor. It grows best in zones 3-10. Herrenhausen has pink or purple late summer flowers. It will get up to 2 feet tall and grows in zones 5-10.
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Showy Oregano also comes in several varieties. Hopley’s Purple Oregano has dark green fuzzy leaves with dark purple flowers. It looks lovely in dried wreaths and grows in zones 5-10. Golden Creeping Oregano has gold leaves as its name suggests. It has a mild flavor with white flowers that make wonderful groundcover. Golden Creeping Oregano only gets up to 6 inches tall in zones 4-9. Kent Beauty with its pink flowers is another oregano plant great for drying. The round leaves have silver veins and the plant will get up to 1 foot tall. It does best in zones 4-10. Origanum microphylla has tiny bluish silver leaves with a mild scent and rose pink flowers. This oregano plant gets up to 8 inches tall and flourishes in zones 4-10. Showy Oregano (Origanum pulchellum) has droopy silver-gray leaves with pink flowers. This is another good plant for drying. It does best in zones 5-10.
Quick Facts
In summary, Oregano can be grown in zones 4-10. These plants like full sun or light shade in well drained average soil. The leaves are edible and used for seasoning usually in stews and sauces. Oregano is quite drought resistant and its flowers are good for drying. This perennial flowers in summer and its leaves can be harvested spring to fall. Oregano can spread up to 2 feet wide and grow to 2 feet tall.
Tags: Common Oregano, Compact Oregano, cooking oregano, Dark Oregano, Golden Creeping Oregano, Greek Oregano, Herrenhausen, Hopley’s Purple, Kent Beauty, Oregano, Origanum Microphylla, Origanum Viride, Showy Oregano