MBN 1Gal Teucrium chamaedrys

WALL GERMANDER . A spreading, trailing or mounding, semiwoody, evergreen perennial with small, dark green leaves and a long show of small, rose pink flowers strung along the upper sections of the new stems. Grows to 18" tall, 3’ wide, spreading larger by rooting in stems if allowed. The showy, rose pink, sage-like flowers are small but produced in mass from late winter through early summer, transforming plants into mounds of color, usually humming frantically with bees. This is a very valuable source of pollen for honeybees and other beneficials. Overall this is an excellent, durable, tough, resilient, reasonably fast semi-woody perennial or groundcover that works well even in tough commercial situations. It can withstand some physical damage (occasional customer foot traffic, shopping carts), can tolerate most pre-emergents, is almost always thick and dense enough to exclude weeds, is relatively formal in appearance with its glossy green leaves, blooms for a respectable amount of time, seems resistant to many of the root pathogens affecting touchier Mediterraneans, and is forgiving of a range of soil types. It can be used as a solid groundcover, even on a large scale. It also has the most wonderful trait of being highly gopher resistant when established, almost completely so if any irrigation is applied away from the crown and at the periphery of the foliage line on mature plants. It is happiest best in full sun with good drainage and infrequent watering, but will tolerate half-shade, especially if grown drier, and can survive on little or not summer watering in most of the cooler, populated areas of California. Frost hardy to USDA zone 5. Mediterranean region, Asia Minor.