Teucrium, Germander, Cat Thyme

Purple Tails
Teucruim Hercanicum
in our garden late May 2015

Teucriums have several names but whatever they are called, we love the ones in our garden. The most common names include Germander and Cat Thyme.

Teucriums are host plants for certain moths but in the 5 years we've grown the plants, we've haven't seen any chewing on the leaves.

The list of Teucriums is impressive and we've only grown the ones we have so far from seed, though we probably should try a few more.

Mountain Valley Growers has the Creeping Germander that you may want for a rock wall or xeriscape garden in zones 5 through 11.

The plants are perennial here in zone 7 but they are not evergreen as they are advertised in warmer zones.

Re-potting seed-grown Purple and Pink Tails

 When the flowers faded and seeds set, I collected the seeds by wrapping my hand around the stem and lifting, stripping the entire stem.

 After collecting the seeds, I sprinkled them onto moist, sterile potting soil and pressed them in. The containers were put into filtered light in the garden shed.

These three photos are of the seedlings that resulted from that seed planting a couple of months ago.

The seeds were started in re-purposed strawberry clamshell containers. The root system you see on the right was removed from the clamshell with a re-purposed Popsicle stick.

Each seedling now has its own container and I'll keep them protected in the shed over the winter.

Next spring they will go out into the garden to replace the Purple and Pink Tails plants we've lost over the years.

Pase Seeds sells Teucruim Hircanicum seeds.