Wild Marjoram Seeds (Origanum vulgare)

Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) is an aromatic native perennial of chalk and limestone grassland, road verges and hedgebanks, growing 30 to 60cm tall. It has small oval leaves in opposite pairs on square, red-tinted stems and carries dense clusters of dark purple buds that open to paler pink-purple flowers from July to September. It is the same species as culinary oregano and the leaves can be used in the kitchen.

Wild Marjoram is one of the most valuable late-summer nectar plants in Britain. Its flowers are crowded with butterflies, including blues, browns and skippers, as well as bumblebees, honeybees and hoverflies, and moths visit after dark. It is a long-lived, clump-forming perennial that also self-seeds gently, and it fills the gap after the main meadow flush has finished.

It needs well-drained, low-fertility soil in full sun and is happiest on chalk, limestone or light, stony ground. It suits a chalk bank, a sunny hedge base, a dry meadow, a gravel garden or a warm south-facing verge. Avoid heavy, wet or shaded sites and rich soils, where it will be crowded out.

Sow in spring onto bare or scarified ground, surface-sown and firmed in without covering; the seed is very fine and needs light. Plants form clumps in the first year and flower well from the second summer. Cut in autumn once seed has been shed and remove the cuttings, and it will persist for many years. Combine with our chalk and dry mixes or single species that share the same free-draining, sunny conditions.