Satureja montana 'Winter Savory'

Lamiaceae: an aromatic dwarf, sub-shrubby perennial to 40cm. Found on old walls, dry banks and rocks on hillsides, usually on calcareous soils. Clusters of tubular 2-lipped purple flowers, in dense spikes of small, whorls. The leaves are narrowly lance-shaped, and dark green. Native to Southern Europe to North Africa.

USES:

The leaves can be used raw or cooked. They peppery flavour, and are used mainly as a flavouring for cooked foods, especially beans, and as a garnish for salads. They have a stronger, sharper flavour than summer savory (S. hortensis). A herb tea is made from the fresh or dried leaves. The leaves are harvested just before the plant comes into flower. The tea has a tangy, marjoram-like flavour.

Winter savory is most often used as a culinary herb, but it also has marked medicinal benefits, especially upon the whole digestive system. The whole herb, and especially the flowering shoots, has mildly antiseptic, aromatic, carminative, digestive, mildly expectorant and stomachic properties. A sprig of the plant, rubbed onto bee or wasp stings, brings instant relief. An ointment made from the plant is used externally to relieve arthritic joints.

GROWING INFORMATION:

surface sow in April in a greenhouse. Do not allow the compost to dry out. Germination can be slow and erratic, but usually takes place within a month. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle. It is usually possible to plant out into their permanent positions during the summer, but if the plants have not grown sufficiently, or if you live in an area of cold winters, it might be best to grow them on in a cold frame for their first winter and plant them out in late spring or early summer of the following year.

An easily grown plant when given suitable conditions, it prefers a well-drained poor stony soil and succeeds in a hot dry sunny position. It is very intolerant of soils that remain damp, especially in the winter, and dislikes shade. Plants can live for several years, but as they grow older they do not make so much new growth and so are best replaced every two years.

A good bee plant.

HARVESTED: 2019