Height: 12 inches
Spacing: 18 inches
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 3
Description:
A robust creeper with tiny, rounded leaves 1/2 to 1 inch wide. Small, pink or lavender to purple flowers stand out above it's colorful burgundy foliage in early to late summer.
Edible Qualities
Golden Oregano is a perennial herb that is typically grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. The fragrant round gold leaves are usually harvested from late spring to mid summer. The leaves have a pungent taste and a distinctive fragrance.
The leaves are most often used in the following ways:
- Cooking
- Seasoning
Features & Attributes
Golden Oregano's attractive tiny fragrant round leaves remain gold in color throughout the year on a plant with a mounded habit of growth. It features tiny pink trumpet-shaped flowers in mid summer.
This is an herbaceous evergreen perennial herb with a mounded form. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect. This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and should be cut back in late fall in preparation for winter. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Aside from its primary use as an edible, Golden Oregano is sutiable for the following landscape applications;
- Border Edging
- General Garden Use
- Groundcover
- Herb Gardens
- Container Planting
Planting & Growing
Golden Oregano will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 18 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 5 years. As an evegreen perennial, this plant will typically keep its form and foliage year-round.
This plant can be integrated into a landscape or flower garden by creative gardeners, but is usually grown in a designated herb garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in both summer and winter to conserve soil moisture and protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America. It can be propagated by cuttings; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.
Golden Oregano is a good choice for the edible garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.
