Ornamental Oregano Kent Beauty

I have searched the forums but cannot find a definitive answer to this question (or perhaps I missed it!). I have two Oregano Kent Beauty plants in pots with blue Double Cascade petunias and verbena 'Obsession White' and I love the combo, but none of the plants will survive a zone 5a winter. Has anyone overwintered Kent Beauty (the one of the three I really want to preserve) indoors over the winter, and if so could you tell me how to do so successfully (how far to cut it back, how much water at what intervals, how much light?) I do have shop light on timers in my basement. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Donna

Hi Donna,

I'm afraid this won't be entirely "on the mark" as I'd never even heard of the cultivar of oregano that you have; however, I'm also in zone 5A here in Massachusetts and have loads of regular oregano out in the garden which happily comes back (and SPREADS!) every year. Unless the one you have is something very, very different, I doubt that you need to baby it all that much. Since it's in a pot rather than in the ground, it would probably be a good idea to bring it indoors to your basement for the winter, but I don't think that you would need the lights. It would probably be quite happy to die back and come up again in the Spring.

Donna ~ I don't know your answer either. I can't oversummer it LOL. I love it tho and get more plants each spring. As it is a perennial, I feel you should be able to over winter it or at least take cuttings which may be easier to keep.

I have tried this plant twice. I think it was my fault. It needs to have dry, well-drained soil and full sun.
It can be used as a houseplant: http://hanabayflowers.com/oregano.html
The PF list 2 people in cooler climates that could help you. I usually always get a reply if they are still active. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58220/
If they do shed any info on this lovely plant please let us know as i would try this one again if I ever see it.
Linda

How kind! Thank you everyone. The people on this forum are so wonderful. You leave a question in the morning and when you come back someone is trying to help. Podster, thank you for the image - I should have provided one. I think I'll double up. I will take cuttings and bring it indoors. And Linda, I'll make a note to report back in the spring. It is a wonderful plant.

Donna

Donna, I love 'Kent Beauty'! I've been growing it for years. At our old house in Troy (a suburb of Detroit--clay soil, changed from z5 to 6a a couple years ago) I had it growing in a raised stone wall for drainage and it survived just fine. We moved north last summer and I over wintered it in my greenhouse so I can't tell you yet for sure if it will survive here, but I expect it will as our soil here is sandy. I've got in a raised bed again...so we'll see. I've seen it listed as zones 5a-10b, but also 6-9. But I think if you give it full sun, well drained soil and maybe a slightly protected location it should come back for you. But I also think it makes a beautiful house plant and have grown it in a pot in my livingroom over the winter as well.

Linda, I have a couple of 'babies' in 3.5" pots -- anything interesting to trade? Logee's and several other online mail order greenhouses usually have it available as small starts in the spring. There's another variety called 'Barbara Tingley' that's very similar that I've also grown and overwintered.
Jeane

Jeane, you have a D-Mail.
Linda

I love the fragrance when you rub the leaves... maybe I massage them too much and kill them... : )

Jeane,

Thank you so much. And I hope that you and Linda have a successful trade. But I must say, you are WAY ahead of the curve. Kent Beauty is unknown in my area, and you've grown it outdoors, in a greenhouse AND as a living room plant. We should all take our lead from you!

Donna

I have an ornamental oregano that didn't come with a name but it looks just like the pictures I have seen of Kent Beauty. I bought it at Trader Joe's I live in zone 5a and I planted it in my front flower bed outdoors and it overwintered beautifully. Maybe you could make a cutting and keep one indoors and one outdoors.

I just discovered Kent's Beauty this past weekend at a local herb farm. The grower said it does do well as a house plant and that ALL the parts are edible. She indicated that she has seen it come back in this zone, but that is probably unusual. It is such a great plant!

Excuse my ignorance, but how would I take a cutting of this particular plant? Some cuttings are easy, like coleus (stick it in water). I have never been able to raise heliotrope cuttings. I just put them in a window, watered them periodically as they looked quite awful, but they were resurrected in the spring. I did the same thing with pelagoniums, with a 50% success rate. I can grow those two from seed, so it's no big deal, but growing OKB is apparently quite difficult. Can anyone guide this novice on how to take and overwinter the cuttings?

Such a great plant! Passersby stop, point and exclaim - what is THAT?!

Thanks,

Donna

I am not sure how to take cuttings of this plant either. It wouldn't hurt to try water, but more likely is to put the cuttings in a pot with a potting mix or sand and keep it wet until it roots. Another possibility is seedlings. I noticed that one person on DG gets more Kent Beauty when additional ones sprout up from seeds it has dropped. If you go to plant files on person offers to trade seed. See:

http://davesgarden.com/trading/view/search.php?search_text=PFPID:58220

Also you could try collecting your own seed or just setting the plant in a flower bed where the seed can fall off into decent soil.
Do check out plant files:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58220/
They also list vendors for the plants.

When I was researching this plant before buying, there was one place that said it was hardy to Zone 5. Can't recall where that was. I'm aware that most places say Zone 6.

Anyway, I didn't had any trouble with it staying alive here in Zone 5 last winter, its first winter. I have it in the ground on the west side fairly close to the house in full sun. It is well-mulched too. I'm with paja and would say to try leaving some of it outside in the ground and see what happens.

Many thanks, Pajaritomt and McGlory. I think I'll try multiple methods (collecting seeds, rooting cuttings in water and in potting mix) and keep track of the results. They are in pots now, but I have a protected section on the south side of my yard that would be a good test for winterhardiness.

It'll be an interesting experiment.

You guys are wonderful.

Donna

Oops! I just realized that the person in plant files wanted seeds, didn't have them to trade. But you can catch your own from the plant. I am sure you will be able to get one of these methods to work.

Has anyone had any luck with cuttings from their Kent Beauty? I have a couple of small plants and wanted to try rooting come cuttings. The plants are kind of small, tho, and I don't want to hack on them too much, so I'd like to use the best method.

My efforts to root cuttings in seed starting mix failed. I have cut back my original plants and they are enthusiastically growing in their pots outdoors. So I am simply going to bring them indoors. Perhaps someone else had more success.

Donna

I'm going to try a couple of cuttings in water. If I have any luck, I'll let you know.

Thank you Woofie (what a great handle!)

Donna

I like the handle as well. I know a dog named Woofie, a part Australian shepherd. It has even posed in fashion shots. That completely aside, the Woofie I know is one of the world's great dogs.

I have read a lot of this plant and I think it is generally propagated by cuttings, but I don't read anything about which method of cutting. I haven't been able to find seeds available, but I do know that the seeds drop out of the little purple flowers on the sides of the stems. I understand they reseed themselves very nicely. You might try putting some container or some white paper folded into a semi-box like arrangement under the stems and see if you catch any. It just might work.

One way or the other, I will be eager to see how/if it works. These plants are being propagated somehow. It would be terrific if we can find out how. Winter is beginning here now and my plants are quite small. I hope to try propagation next year and do hope you will tell us how your efforts came out.

I have tried cuttings with no success but yes cuttings are how they are propagated. I would think the blooms would also produce seed...

I read on a thread on another site that the volunteer plants from dropped seeds are very similar to the original plant. I seem to recall that the poster mentioned that the second generation plants were somewhat pinker. I'd be happy with those!

Woofie is my dear, departed.

Ours was Frisky, a beautiful German shepherd. Woofie was gorgeous. He has that loyal I love my human parent look. You must miss him.

Donna

Oh, we were heart-broken when we lost him. Sooooo, being gluttons for punishment:

How completely wonderful! Good for you!

Donna

Your two new "woofies" are adorable. The original has a very sweet and noble look. Best of luck with propagating Kent Beauty. Do let us know what works. There isn't a lot for Kent Beauty to cross with if you don't have a lot of blooming oregano around. You will probably get something very close to the original but I am sure one of the propagation methods will work. It may be the time of year you propagated that is the problem. I would try different times of the year.
I have also heard that people in the south take a 2 liter plastic pop bottle, cut it in half. Put the cutting in the bottom and then put the top back on. It makes a little green house. They swear by it for rooting plants even in the hot summer of the south. Maybe that would help.

Wow, I'm so glad I happened on this thread! For some reason, I thought Kent Beauty was an annual. I will definitely get some in the spring. Thanks all for the enlightenment. I have 2 ornamental oreganos (Hopley's Purple and Showy Pink) that are very pretty, but nothing like Kent Beauty.

thanks again for the info

~ jan

Hi Jan!
I had my Kent Beauties (2) in a pot with double blue petunias. I pulled out the petunias, cut the Beauties back, brought them into the house and sat the about 2 feet from a lamp. They're growing ! It's 20 degrees outside. I think I'll just cut them back from time to time and start reducing the light. So neat to see the pink coloration when it's FREEZING outside.

Donna

Wow, I'll bet they looked great with the petunias. Don't have a picture by any chance? How big are your Kent Beauties and what size pot are they in? Mine are just tiny things that came in 2" pots. They've graduated to 6" pots on my back porch, but they're still kind of small.

Hi Woofie,

I'm still looking through my photos. I could have sworn I got a better pic than this. Look WAY to the right.

And the middle of the picture (those darned tidal wave petunias!)

Donna

Woofie,

Here is a much earlier shot, from late April. It's Verbena Obsession white (purchased), Cascade Blue petunias (grown from seed) and the young Kent.

Donna

Hi Donna
Your Kent is definitely much bigger than mine. But so far mine are doing fine indoors. They'd probably be bigger if I'd gotten around to putting them outdoors this past summer. I like your "tidal wave" petunias. I have some really pretty double lavender petunias that would look nice with the Kent, too. I'm thinking I may buy a couple more of the Kent Beauties next year, and maybe one of the other ornamental oreganos. There was a similar one that I can't remember the name of just now. My little cutting is still sitting in it's jar of water, not doing much, but it's not dying either. I read somewhere that you have to change the water daily for herb cuttings. Umm, I haven't been, so if it dies I can blame that. :-)