When we moved into our house over sixteen years ago, we set out willy-nilly to landscape. We had no plan. We had a vision. But, we had no plan.
I wanted roses.
We planted roses everywhere. We built flowerbeds for roses around the house. We planted climbing roses on our back fence. We built a tiered rose showplace.
I don’t even want to know who much $$$ we spent with Jackson-Perkins. Seriously, I think at one time I counted over seventy-five roses in our yard.
What did we learn?
Roses are picky. Roses need pruned. Roses need care, much more than we had time to give.
What else did we learn?
Native Bermuda grass can kill any landscape vision we have.
The heirloom roses we purchased or rustled are still going strong. The natives survive.
Our fancy-smancy roses did not fair so well. Most are gone.
We recently were able to dig out our tiered rose bed and have rid it (hopefully) of all the Bermuda grass.
I decided I wanted an attractive and functional herb garden.
This was my inspiration. Note: This is not in our yard. Instead, it can be found at Linnaeus Gardens in Tulsa. This is what I want.
This is what I currently have.
Most recently, this was a brushy pile of weeds, dead roses, and probably snakes.
Now it is planted with every kind of thyme, oregano, and marjoram that I could find. I used onion sets as dividers. Lavender is in the middle tier.
| Marjoram | Oregano | Thyme | |
| Creeping Golden Marjoram | Hot & Spicy Oregano | “Dot Wells” (French) Thyme | |
| Mounding Marjoram | Marhsall’s Memory Oregano | Creeping Thyme | |
| Kent Beauty Oregano | Creeping Red Thyme | ||
| Rosenkuppel Oregano | Dutch Thyme (for tea) | ||
| Showy Pink Oregano | German Thyme | ||
| Variegated Oregano | Lavender Thyme | ||
| Mother of Thyme | |||
| Orange Thyme | |||
| Pink Chintz Thyme | |||
| Silver Edged Thyme | |||
| Summer Thyme | |||
| Tangerine Thyme | |||
| Variegated Lemon Thyme | |||
| Wooly Thyme | |||
Obviously, I found more thyme varieties, but I am on the lookout for more oregano and marjoram (which often gets mislabeled in nurseries anyway). I am on the hunt for at least Golden Tipped Marjoram and Golden Oregano (just like Linnaeus).
I am experimenting with some Germander as an inside hedge around the middle tier. Basically, this entire project is an experiment.
It’s not much to look at now. I will do my very best to keep you post.
(The sandstone bench pad is a work in progress, too.)