Description of Lycopus europaeus (Gypsywort)

Lycopus europaeus is gypsywort, a UK native for wet ground. It’s a quiet plant that does a good job in wildlife bog gardens, especially where you want natives that can handle damp shade and seasonal flooding.

Appearance

It makes upright square stems with toothed leaves. Small white flowers appear in clusters around the stems in summer. It often reaches 40 to 80cm and can form patches in wet soil.

Care Guide

It’s easy if the soil stays wet. It can look a bit plain in isolation, so it works best mixed through other planting.

• Sun: Sun to part shade.
• Soil: Wet soil or muddy margins.
• Water: Boggy ground suits it. It copes with shallow margins too.
• Control: Thin if it self-seeds or spreads into tighter planting.
• Cut back: Cut down in late autumn or late winter.

It tends to naturalise rather than sit as a perfect clump, which suits wildlife-style planting.

Suitability for Bog Garden

This suits bog gardens where you want a native, low-fuss plant that supports insects. Use it around the edges of reeds and sedges, or in the middle layer behind ground covers.

It also fits well along ditch lines and damp hollows where water sits after rain.

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