Back when my mother was alive, she was able to take a small pot of
> oregano from the nursery and grow it into large perennial shrub that
> we could harvest from all year.
>
> Now that I've got a home and garden of my own, I've been trying to do
> the same thing. My last several attempts have been pathetic failures,
> however. I generally buy a well established pot of oregano, transplant
> it into a larger pot, and let the plant grow.
>
> Unfortunately, what generally happens is that rather than sending up
> new stems to fill the new pot, the old stems simply get tall, the
> lower leaves die off, and the plant gets leggy. Early in summer, the
> plant goes to flower, and what was once a robust (if leggy) plant > rapidly dies back. >
> Lately, it has occurred to me that I really ought to be pruning the
> plant if I want it to expand into a large bush. However, I know very
> little about pruning techniques. Where and how much should I cut back > and when? >
> Right now my present oregano plant is fairly tall but leggy and going
> into flower. If from this point I want to train it into a large shrub
> that will fill the pot I've transplanted it into, what steps do I > take? >
> Also, are the pruning techniques for oregano generally applicable to > other herbs? >
> Thanks,
> Peter