Botanical name: Origanum vulgare
Folk names: Joy-of-the-mountains

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Nectar for butterflies including the gatekeeper,  small tortoiseshell, red admiral, peacock and meadow brown, green-veined white, large white, small white, and bees including the common carder bee and solitary bees including the blue mason bee. Caterpillar food plant for many moths including the mint moth. Caterpillars are a main food source for hedgehogs that can access your garden and moths are a food source for bats. So an all-round excellent choice!

Flowers: July to September

Decorative merit: Tiny pale mauve flowers, with deeper rose-red buds, clustered on stems. Each flower has four stamens. Leaves are aromatic and opposite on stems, with edges covered in fine hairs. Produces four single-seeded nutlets. 20-90cm high. Low growing, bushy and woody.

Where: Sun. Dry gardens, herb and gravel patches, containers in well-drained soil. Leave seeds over winter as insect habitats but then cut to the young foliage to make space for new flower growth. Plant at least two or three together in a block to be helpful for feeding butterflies.

Folklore: Do you know of any stories or customs connected to this plant?

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank