common myrtle
Myrtus communis
RHS AGM 1993
USDA zones8 to 10
SunHandles full sun to partial sun
WaterHandles dry to moist soil
Size4 to 6 feet tall3 to 5 feet wide
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Habit
- Mounding
- Bloom season
- Spring, summer
- Bloom color
- White with yellow-tipped stamens
- Foliage color
- Green
- Soil types
- Sand, loam, clay, chalk
- Soil pH
- Acid, alkaline, neutral
Garden uses
Attracts
Notes
Common myrtle (Myrtus communis) is a shrub for hedges, containers, borders, and specimen planting. It is hardy to USDA zone 8, or down to 10°F (-12°C). This plant likes full or part sun and dry to moist soil of most types. White flowers with yellow-tipped stamens open in spring and again in summer, and bees visit them. Deer tend to pass it by. Its fragrant leaves stay green all year.
Pairs well with Strawberry tree, Pineapple sage, Creeping thyme, and Karl Foerster feather reed grass.
Native range
Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, and 14 more places. See all 18
Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, Africa, Azores, Baleares, Canary Is., Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Eritrea, Kriti, Madeira, NW. Balkan Pen., Sardegna, Sicilia, and Türkiye.