After growing all sorts of oregano for many years I find that this beautiful Greek oregano does best as a perennial herb here in Central Florida. Easy to propagate just by putting cuttings in water, best results if cuttings taken early in the morning.
2 comments:
Hi GF,
A Greek reader of my blog recently gathered some seeds from oregano growing wild in her area and sent them to me. I'm guessing it's a similar variety to what you have, but I'm not sure.
She suggested since my climate here in Amsterdam is pretty damp that maybe growing it in a pot was better, because it preferred hot and dry to cold and damp.
Florida is pretty damp, isn't it? What's your experience growing it in wet ground?
Hi Patrick,
I am familiar with your climate because I was lucky to live in Amsterdam for a year.
The one difference betweeen our climates is that we get quite a bit more sun here...just like Greeks get more (and stronger) sunrays too.
I bought my plants at the store over a year ago and you know how it is with their plant tags...their cultivars are not always spot on...but they are what here is known as Greek oregano nonetheless. The biggest differences with the oregano sold as common oregano: leaves are larger & taste is stronger so less is needed when cooking.
My Florida gardening books said to expect it to behave as an annual herb here, rather than a perennial.
Like I usually do when growing plants that have a hard time taking our heat and humidity, I planted four small plants in different areas of the garden.
Some got full sun (as their tag recommended) all year long (those died), some got less sun all year long and barely survived, and the one in the picture got full sun during the coldest months, but since I planted it right behind a deciduous shrub it got shade during the hottest part of the day in the summer but full sun in winter.
My suggestion would be to consider taking several cuttings of the plant when your colder and more cloudy weather starts, and then keep some inside the house under different lights and leave a few in the garden to experiment.
I have found that one can create wonderful little microclimates that can help you grow stuff everybody says it is impossible to grow in your area...you just have to experiment and always have it in the back of your head that if it does not work out you can always save seed and grow plants as annuals.
Hope that whatever you do things work out great for you!
Thanks for visiting!
GF
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