Germander

An Herb For a Hedge

Germander is a double-whammy of a plant. This evergreen is both an edible herb and a decorative shrub! It looks great and smells great lining a walkway or planting bed.

The Germander (Teucrium chamaedrys) is a dwarf, shrubby plant that has leaves similar to boxwood. The growing habit is like boxwood, too, and you will often see this shrub used as a low growing hedge. It is the star of many European knot gardens because of this.

Germander has great qualities that make it stand out from other hedge plants, too. If you aren’t keeping it tightly pruned, germander will grace you with beautiful rosy-purple flower spikes that bloom all summer into fall.

The leaves give off a nice herbaceous scent when crushed. In the fall, the leaves get a sweet reddish cast to them - which is a nice touch considering that this is a broad-leafed evergreen, so even though they change colors, it doesn’t lose its leaves over the winter. 

Use Germander the same way you would boxwood – to edge a path or a flowerbed. It looks great in a mixed perennial bed, too. Another stand-out characteristic of germander is that is has creeping roots. This makes it excel at bank stabilization and erosion control.

Plant Germander where you can enjoy it for its beauty and its scent. Add a few of these to your garden landscape today!

* Easily pruned
* Evergreen
* Showy summer flowers and fall color
* Great herb scent