Beware the Zombie Herb

 One pot.

From one small potted herb, brought from our city garden 17 years ago, a veritable plague has sprouted. I’m talking about oregano.

I used to have several pretty perennial beds, filled with well-behaved bee balm and purple palace heuchera. But oregano, which sneaked into the beds, has pretty much sucked the vitality out of the other plants.

Once upon a time, bee balm filled this bed

As you see, there’s only a few bee balm blossoms trying to hold their own.

A couple of weeks ago, I took my little weed-eater to a bunch of oregano encroaching into my patio, and mowed it down to the nubs. Within days, it was growing again, and now there’s a bunch of perky little crowns that look stronger than ever.

Earlier this week, I was weeding a neglected, empty bed, and saw to my dismay it was carpeted with tiny oregano seedlings. Most weeds that size, you can easily pull out, no problem. But oregano has robust, wiry roots, even in the tiniest plant.

I took a hoe to the seedlings, but I don’t have a lot of hope my puny efforts will keep them from growing. 

Once the crown gets established, you’re in trouble. 

Are you a fan of All Creatures Great and Small? I just started the series, and there’s always lots of scenes with the young veterinarian attending a cow giving birth, and having the pull like mad to get the calf born. 

Pulling on a well-established oregano crown from the soil feels something like this! And if you’re like me, yarding out oregano guarantees you a wonderful case of elbow tendonitis. 

Gardeners in the know tell you to beware of mints: keep them in a pot, or a separate bed. But contain them, whatever you do. 

But in my experience, mint of all sorts, even the hardy peppermint, has nothing on oregano. 

The bed below used to be a lovely little herb garden, of thyme, lavender, and yes, a variety of mints: chocolate mint, spearmint, and peppermint. Now it’s oregano from stem to stern…

Oregano has just about smothered the mint here!

Just like with rock-paper-scissors, and scissors cuts paper and paper covers rock, well, here’s the deal:

Oregano covers everything.

I’ve been imagining that left to its own devices, oregano could cover every inch of our garden, then start growing around the house and up the walls—until the entire structure is encased in it, much like Sleeping Beauty’s castle was surrounded by thorns.

So I have had it with oregano!

This fall, I have vowed to try and get a handle on all this oregano. Starting with smothering it over the winter, then digging up the roots in the spring. I can only hope the oregano roots are weak and frail after being treated so badly. 

If you’re trying to get rid of excess oregano, show it no mercy…Otherwise, this never-say-die herb will completely take over!