White Horehound (Marrubium vulgare) is an amazing herb to add to your garden. It's a perennial and 2-3 plants is plenty for personal use. It's part of the mint family (which means its invasive - so we planted in pots) and is easy to grow, even in poor soil! There also aren't any significant pest or disease problems, making it perfect for beginners.
This herb is traditionally used as a remedy for coughs, typically by making cough drops or cough syrup with it. The Horehound Cough Syrup recipe found in The Modern Herbal Dispensatory is really simple to make and we plan on using it the next time cold season rolls around. It's leaves can also be dried (and stored in a jar for up to a year) and made into a tea, while the stems can be steeped for tea or tinctures. It's recommended to harvest the leaves after the plant flowers. Fresh leaves are bitter and do NOT taste good. It's only after being dried that they get their smoother flavor. You can consume too much, so do your research and listen to your body.
White Horehound is sown at 1/4 inch and sprouts at 14-21 days (so they're slow to germinate). You must keep the seeds moist until sprouts appear. It needs full sun (8-12hrs) and will not do as well in the shade. It's also drought resistant (so better to underwater than overwater) and frost hardy. This plant turns into a gorgeous silvery foliage mound (around 18" tall) and it's recommended to space plants 10-12" apart. This plant has delicate white flowers, and it's beneficial to cut off these flowers to minimize the spread of the plant - because White Horehound seeds itself! To keep them compact and productive, cut back the plants in the fall. Overall, this is a low maintenance plant and has gardening benefits as well! Aphids and grasshoppers hate the smell, so White Horehound can protect other plants that are more susceptible to pests. It also attracts bees, which is always a win for us.
We bought our seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, who is a local farm and seed company. We highly recommend them!
Resources: https://www.rareseeds.com/white-horehound https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/horehound/growing-horehound.htm https://gardenerspath.com/plants/herbs/grow-horehound/ The Modern Herbal Dispensatory by Thomas Easley and Steven Horne
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