Hardiness zones
Sunset 4-24
USDA 5-11
Landscape Use: Ground cover, low edging or hedge plant, perennial herb garden.
Form & Character: Wonderful, clean-looking, low-growing, evergreen woody perennial.
Growth Habit: Moderate to 12 to 18" tall, spreading moderately by rhizomes to 4'
Foliage/Texture: Opposite, ovate, dark green and glabrous on adaxial surface with dentate margins outer half of leaf margin, leaves 1/2" long with short petiole, medium fine texture
Flowers & Fruits: Small (corolla to 3/8"), white to pale pinkish purple, axillary flowers during May
Seasonal Color: Late spring flowers
Temperature: Hardy to 0oF. In Phoenix, germander struggles before establishment if summer temperatures exceed 105oF and it is grown in an open setting with inorganic surface mulches such as as decomposing granite.
Light: Full sun to partial shade. No reflected western summer sun in Phoenix.
Soil: Tolerant
Watering: Infrequent to regular in summer, none in winter
Pruning: Lightly shear once a year in late winter to promote dense habit of growth.
Propagation: Stem and root cuttings, division
Disease and pests: None
Additional comments:
Germander
is a clean looking herbal sub-shrub that is slow to establish in a xeriscape
setting in Phoenix. This small plant was once highly esteemed as
a treatment for gout, inflammation, respiratory ailments. Germander is also used for its diuretic properties, and as a treatment for weak stomachs and lack of appetite. It has been taken as an aid to weight loss and is a common ingredient in tonic wines. Some caution is advised when using this plant internally, it can cause liver damage. Germander is widely used in making alcoholic drinks with a bitter base
In the genus, Teucrium, there are over 300 species worldwide. One of then is T.
fruticans (bush germander), which is also sometimes found in local Phoenix nurseries.
It has gray tomentose leaves, light blue flowers (this is the cultivar 'Azureum'), and is an upright shrub to 5'. Both Teucrium chamaedrys and T. fruticans shrubs attract bees when in flower.
