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CULINARY HERB

Postage : Seeds only $4 / Plants $20

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  • Origanum
    • dictamnus   CAG01473

      (Dittany of Crete)
      Height30cmWidth60cmFlowering SeasonSummerWaterLLightSun
      Origanum dictamnus
      $12.00earn 60 points

      Highly pettable, rounded, stem hugging, grey leaves are covered in soft cobwebby fur, more like a friendly garden pet than a plant. All summer long, stiff stems of gracefully pendant, tawny pink bracts disclose small, tubular, soft pink flowers above the low mounds of foliage.

      If I was going to be stranded on a desert island this would be the oregano I would take, it would also probably be the most likely to succeed.

      Summer drought, exposure and well drained alkaline soil preferred but will grow happily, if somewhat more slowly, in clay soils that aren't too wet.

      Slow growing and hence almost maintenance free with removal of spent stems all that is necessary.

      Can be used in the kitchen but the flavour is very similar to other much faster growing and less attractive oreganos. It otherwise has been used historically for healing, enhancing astral projection and as an aphrodisiac.

      The Dittany of both Aristotle and Harry Potter.

  • Anethum
    • graveolens   CAG02805

      (Dill)
      Height1.2mWidth40cmFlowering SeasonSpringWaterLLightFull Sun
      Anethum graveolens
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
      SEEDS

      A culinary herb grown throughout Europe and much of Asia the fresh leaves, flowers and stems are typically used to flavour fish and vegetables, in soups and of course to flavour Dill pickles. The dried seeds can be used in a similar fashion, store well and so are available for use year round.

      A very hardy, winter growing annual in Perth and best scratched in directly where it is to grow in autumn or early winter when the weather has cooled down, irrigation is unnecessary. Colder regions may have to resort to spring sowing. The rosette of soft, feathery, glaucous leaves elongates on a stiff hollow stem over the course of the growing season to be topped in spring by branching, flat, umbrella-like heads of soft sulphur yellow flowers. Attractive and lends a little whimsy to any garden.
      The dried seed heads can remain attractive long after the seeds have fallen or been collected.

      Self sows freely in any bare soil that receives copious sunshine. If you can resist eating it all you too can have a self sustaining population.

  • Origanum
  • Rosmarinus
  • Salvia

    (Sage)
    Lamiaceae

    A genus whose popularity has risen exponentially in recent times. Offering a diverse range of form and colour there is a Salvia for nearly every garden situation with more and more being discovered and described all the time. The count now stands somewhere in excess of 1000, including subspecies, according to The Plant List. They are found on every continent except Antarctica.

    From a gardeners perspective they can not all be treated the same, they come from many different climates after all, but as a rule of thumb can be grouped into winter rainfall and summer rainfall species and with few exceptions they all prefer well drained soil.

    Soft leaved species from Central and South America are usually autumn and winter flowering. Coming from summer rainfall areas they typically need protection from dry heat and the accompanying high light intensity and they vary in their tolerance of winter damp. As with most plants the larger the leaves the more water they require, this also dictates how fast they grow with many growing several metres in a single season.

    Species from south western North America, South Africa, the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands are all winter growers and are tolerant or demanding of dry heat and summer drought. Slower growing but usually longer lived these all tend to have small, densely haired, silver or grey leaves or a combination of these traits which help them conserve moisture. Most of these require no additional water in Perth and are well adapted to our climate. They tend tend to flower from spring into summer.


    Prune back to where vigorous new basal growth is seen, never to dead wood, they appear to store little food in their stems and without leaves stand a chance of starving to death or at least struggle to regenerate. The exception is those few that are tuberous or clump forming, these can be cut to ground level once the stems start dying back in late autumn.
  • Thymus
    • serpyllum Bright Pink   CAG02754

      (Mother of Thyme)
      Height1cmWidth60cmFlowering SeasonWi - SpWaterM - LLightSun
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

      Flattest, dark green groundcover, forming a durable mat between stones or spaced paving, as a lawn or simple topping around a large potted specimen. Round clusters of bright pink flowers are a further delight for a long period over winter and spring. It tastes good too.

      A few smaller, choice mediterranean bulbs protruding through its expanse could constitute a garden in entirety.

      Well drained soil and sun are all that is required for this classic garden favourite. Self sows usefully in unplantable places.

    • vulgaris   CAG02651

      (Garden Thyme)
      CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE

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