Teucrium Pruning in My Herb Garden
When I designed the stone terrace on the backside of my Bedford home, it was important for me to incorporate a formal herb garden. Within this garden, we’ve planted thyme, chives, purple basil, purple sage, rosemary, parsley, oregano, golden sage, and artemesia. As a border, we’ve planted an edging of teucrium. Commonly called germander, teucrium is an evergreen shrub, which grows much like boxwood. A very hardy plant, it thrives in heat and grows nicely in poor rocky soils. And, as you can see in these photos, versatile teucrium lends itself beautifully into more formal garden designs, such as this one.
Bushy teucrium – before pruning - surrounding a bed of curly leafed parsley
As you can see, it has a very compact growing habit.
Here’s Jodi in action.
She uses these long-bladed pruners, especially designed for shrubs like boxwood and teucrium.
In case you’re wondering about Jodi’s hat, it’s made by O’Neill. Jodi loves to surf and found it in a surf shop.
Here’s the teucrium neatly pruned, forming an even hedge. The clippings go right into the compost pile.
Recent Blogs From My Garden
Cat's cradle for dahlias
Posted Jul 4, 2008
Step into my sunken garden
Posted Jun 18, 2008
The cole crops in my vegetable garden, some photos from yesterday
Posted Jun 17, 2008
Tomato Planting at the farm
Posted Jun 12, 2008
After the trim the garden is so neat and tidy, Martha!
Posted by: MMC in San Diego | July 7th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
well, this is gorgeous. Wonderful to find an herb that is hearty and easy to care for in the heat! I love your blog...inspiring!
http://www.sarahjanestudios.com/blog
Posted by: Sarah Jane | July 8th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Hi Martha, My, what a difference a little trimming can make. The before and after photos of the area Jodi pruned are absolutely spectacular. This area of your terrace is really beautiful. I would love to see more photos of the rest of the terrace. Does Jodi need any extra help? I would be delighted to do even the cleanup work for her! Thanks so much for sharing. I just love the variety of blogs that you do each day. I look at them several times and really enjoy the positive and peaceful nature of each one. What a nice way to start each day. Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | July 8th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Hallo Martha,
your herb garden look marvelous. Could you please give me an advice "how can my basil live longer" because this summer the slugs(snails) are eating all my plants.
Love your blog, greetings from the Black Forrest,
Petra
Posted by: Petra | July 8th, 2008 at 2:33 am
What a delight to see!
Posted by: Isle Dance | July 8th, 2008 at 3:35 am
I really like the looks of that border when it's trimmed; it's shaped something like an arrow. Could you use hedge trimmers to trim it? Jodi is young but it would be the end of my back to get down that low with pruners! Just the same, I'm going to look into Teucrium. Thanks for introducing me to it! Trish
Posted by: Trish | July 8th, 2008 at 10:18 am
My plantings most definitely have the before look. I did have a horse that kept some portions more tidy and really more uniform in plant heighth. My trimmings now have the home done haircut look. Jodi how did you do such an even trim?
Posted by: Margie | July 8th, 2008 at 11:29 am
What a lovely, neat looking garden.
I love the stones.
They are my favorite.
Posted by: Miz Booshay | July 8th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
NBC-I saw you on the network today....what a great way to say #*(% &*#!!!!! I hope they had to pay through the nose to get you back. Next get the Food Network on their knees. Keep up the great work. You are THE WOMAN!!!!!
Posted by: tina | July 9th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Thank you for writing where Jodi's hat is from. I am a fair skinned gardener that is always looking for wide brim hats. I ordered the one she is wearing for myself! I really enjoy your blog and the pictures of all your gardens as they develop over the season. Thanks
Posted by: Sarah | July 21st, 2008 at 10:37 am
I have a question regarding my 2 Gartenmeister Fuchsia.The are perinuals. They have grown so beautifully this summer, I live in Gresham Oregon, and my question is: Do they need to be pruned back? If so when should I prune them, and how far down the plant. I don't want them to freeze and die over winter. Or do I let them die back naturally?
Sincerely,
Page
Posted by: Page Hendryx | September 6th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
i.ve had good success with my first herb garden this year,but now cooler weather is coming soon,i would really like to preserve them somehow ,but i don't know what to do ,would you please help and i'm so glad you're back
your biggest fan
Posted by: jean foust | September 24th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I also use the Teucrium chamaedrys as edging in our garden. It is an easy plant to propagate and looks great all year. I like your formal garden with the herbs. This year I planted a new Lavender along our back entry walk. It is supposed to look good all year and take our wet winter weather well. It is called Lavender "Cascade Velvet". The flowers were nice, stems about 18". I'll let you know how it looks in the spring. Thanks for the inspiration.
Posted by: Christina Trosper | October 13th, 2008 at 8:55 pm