Horticulture and Landscape Architecture

Hardy Plants for Waterwise Landscapes

Teucrium chamaedrys
Germander

Teucrium chamaedrys in flower next to Santolina chamaecyparissus (V.I. Lohr)
  

Plant form

 Mounding, semi-woody, and semi-evergreen shrub, herb, or perennial (depending on your viewpoint).

Size

 12 to 15 inches tall in leaf, and about 24 inches tall in flower; about 24 to 36 inches wide.

Flowers

 In late summer, magenta flower spikes cover the plant. Bees, moths, and butterflies love the flowers.

Leaves

Small leaves are glossy green during the growing season. In mild winters, most of the leaves will remain green throughout the year. In cold areas, the leaves may die during the winter. "Semi-evergreen" means that it may or may not be evergreen, depending on the season.

Water use

 Low; will grow in Pullman, Washington and Moscow, Idaho with no supplemental water after establishment.

Culture and maintenance

Easy to grow. Relatively insect- and disease-free. This plant may be maintained two very different ways.

  • Formal appearance (as in knot gardens; photo bottom, left): Plant is sheared on a regular basis to keep it dense and small. It can be kept at 6 inches high this way.
  • Informal appearance (photo bottom, right): Plant is pruned only once or twice a year. Old leaves and flower stalks may be removed in spring in one major pruning in the spring, or old flower stalks may be removed after blooming in the fall and the stems cut back in the spring.

Light

 Full sun to partial shade.

Hardiness

 USDA Zone 5.

Other

 May be sold by garden centers as a perennial or as an herb.
Teucrium chamaedrys leaves and stem (V.I. Lohr) Teucrium chamaedrys flowers (V.I. Lohr)
Formal:Teucrium chamaedrys in a knot garden (V.I. Lohr) Informal: Teucrium chamaedrys massed with Caryopteris X clandonensis 'Blue Mist' (V.I. Lohr)
Formal appearance
Informal appearance

 

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