Clinopodium georgianum (Georgia Mint/ Georgia Savory/ Georgia Basil)

Description

Around 18″  tall strongly aromatic native evergreen shrub is covered with purple and white flowers  Bees and butterflies love the flowers. Edible: Aromatic foliage can be made into tea. Sun or part shade. Average to dry soil. Deer-resistant. Native to AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC & SC.

The plants we are growing now were rescued from the garden of Jerry Payne and Rose Payne in Macon/Bibb Co., GA. who had previously rescued the plants from construction in Macon/Bibb Co., GA. The plants had spread out over a field stone path. That area was undergoing a severe drought, so Rose had gone out to water the garden. She unintentionally gave a Timber Rattlesnake a shower. She turned off the hose and allowed the snake to wander away. The next day, she invited me to dig out the plants that had grown over the field stones. It was not a good time to dig them as the weather was very hot and dry. Their were growing in thin areas over and between the rocks.  I replanted them as soon as I got back to the nursery. Their root balls were very wide but quite shallow. I shoved them into the smallest pots that their roots fit in. Over half of them died. The survivors are super strong.

NOTE Almost all of what is sold in the trade as Clinopodium georgianum or Clinopodium carolinianus, is a hybrid derived from Clinopodium georgianum and another species which never grow together in the wild. All of the hybrids are clones derived from that one plant. They cannot produce viable seeds, they will never multiply in your garden.