Teucrium fruticans Selection Erecta

Teucrium fruticans 'Selection' Erecta is a variety of bush germander that stands out for its habit, more upright and regular than the typical species. It is an excellent low hedge shrub in dry and poor soil. Forming a dense mass of white stems, this bush is adorned with evergreen silver-grey foliage that is adorned with small discreet lavender-blue flowers. The flowering lasts for several months, spring to summer in the north, much earlier in Mediterranean areas. The other advantages of this germander are its excellent pruning ability and resistance to long dry summers. Its only flaw is limited cold resistance, down to -8/-10°C at the most.

The 'Selection' Erecta® bush germander is a selection from La Forêt nurseries (France). It is a shrub of the lamiaceae family, a close relative of sages, mints, and lavenders. Its parent, Teucrium fruticans, is native to southern Spain, southern Portugal, and Morocco. In the wild, it can reach dimensions of 2m in all directions. It thrives in sun and poor soils and is capable of withstanding short frosts of around -10°C.

The 'Selection' cultivar, also marketed as Erecta, is a shrub that develops square-section woody stems, covered with a white down, branching at right angles, forming a dense, regular, and overall rounded mass. At maturity, this variety will reach between 1m and 1.50m in all directions, if not regularly pruned. The branches bear small oval, evergreen leaves, slightly aromatic when crushed. They are covered with a fine white down, giving them a silvery colour that is even lighter in dry and hot conditions. The undersides of the leaves are very downy, almost white. The flowering for at least 3 months from October to April-May in Mediterranean regions, and from April to August in the north. Small, two-lipped, 1.2cm long, discreet, mauve-lavender flowers form at the axils of the leaves.

Teucrium fruticans 'Selection is original when pruned into a ball shape like a boxwood but you can also use it as a low hedge, in a low shrub bed, as a standalone specimen in a rock garden, or in a container on the terrace. It is an ideal shrub for coastal areas or dry gardens without irrigation. Easily recreate an authentic Mediterranean atmosphere by associating it, for example, with rockroses, rosemary, Westringia, bushy sages, bushy potentillas, and more.