Oregano and Marjoram: 
An Herb Society of America Guide to the Genus Origanum

Contributors & Acknowledgements

Text by Michele Meyers, HSA Director of Education, except where otherwise noted
© 2005 The Herb Society of America

Horticultural advisor: Robin Siktberg, HSA Editor/Horticulturist

Contributors 

The Herb Society of America would like to thank the following contributors, without whose expertise and input this guide would not have been possible:

James Adams
Jim Adams has been gardening and growing herbs since childhood. He earned his horticulture degree from Michigan State University. He completed numerous internships at some of the country's premier horticultural institutions before becoming the Assistant Curator of the Fern Valley Native Plant Collection at the U.S. National Arboretum. In 1997, he changed posts and became Curator of the National Herb Garden, also at the arboretum. Jim is a member of the Potomac Unit of The Herb Society of America, HSA's Promising Plants committee as well as various other horticulture-related organizations and was awarded HSA's Nancy Putnam Howard Award for Horticulture in 2004. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Gwen Barclay
Gwen is Director of Food Services at The International Festival-Institute at Round Top, Texas. A member of both the Pioneer Unit and the South Texas Unit of HSA, she is a nationally recognized expert on herbs and herbal cuisine. Gwen and her mother, Madalene Hill, are co-authors of Southern Herb Growing.

Susan Belsinger
Susan Belsinger is a culinary educator, food writer and photographer whose articles have been published in Woman's Day, Organic Gardening, Victoria Magazine and The Herb Companion. She is the author of Flowers in the Kitchen, co-author, with Carolyn Dille, of The Garlic Book, Herbs in the Kitchen, and The Greens Book, and co-author of Basil: An Herb Lover's Guide with Thomas DeBaggio. Susan is a member of the Potomac Unit of The Herb Society of America.

Francesco DeBaggio
A second-generation herb grower, Francesco DeBaggio owns and operates DeBaggio's Herb Farm and Nursery (formerly DeBaggio Herbs) in Chantilly, VA. Francesco is a member at large of The Herb Society of America and maintains several HSA-registered herb collections, including Origanum, in his gardens and greenhouses in addition to growing 100,000 herb, vegetable, annual, and perennial plants each spring for his devoted customers. 

Joan DeLauro
Joan is HSA's Garden Consultant and is responsible for the design and maintenance of the demonstration garden at HSA Headquarters. She previously served as Urban Gardening Coordinator at Cleveland Botanical Garden and currently runs her own freelance gardening business. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and is a member at large of The Herb Society of America.

Richard Dennis
Richard is the curator of the Northern California unit's HSA-registered Origanum collection and has been a member The Herb Society of America since 1985. 

Henry Flowers
Henry is a native Texan with a B.S. in Horticulture and a Master of Agriculture degree in Floriculture from Texas A&M University. He has worked as a retail nursery manager and garden manager in Georgia and Texas and presently works with Madalene Hill as Director of Gardens and Grounds for The International Festival-Institute in Round Top, Texas. Henry is a member of HSA's Pioneer Unit.

Madalene Hill
Madalene was president of The Herb Society of America from 1986-1988 and has been a member since 1957. She organized the South Texas Unit and was a charter member of the Pioneer Unit. Madalene was awarded HSA's Helen de Conway Little Medal of Honor in 1978. She is an accomplished plantswoman, and her garden at The International Festival-Institute at Round Top, Texas, attracts visitors from all over the world. 

Scott Kresge
Scott Kresge is an avid plantsman and owner of Emily Mae's Garden Stop in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. He is a member at large of The Herb Society of America, serves on HSA's Promising Plants Committee, and is holder of several HSA-registered plant collections, including Origanum. 

Rae McKimm
Rae McKimm, owner of Crystal Hill Gardens located in Sims, Arkansas, propagates and sells herbs, natives, plants for butterflies and unusual ornamental plants. She received her B.S. degree in Agriculture Business with an emphasis in Horticulture from Arkansas Tech University in 1997. She is a member and current unit chair of the Arkansas Unit of the Herb Society of America, a member of the Arkansas Native Plant Society, secretary for the Arkansas State Horticultural Society, past president and current board member of the Arkansas - Oklahoma Horticulture Industries Show and a Montgomery County (Arkansas) Master Gardener. 

Carol Morse
Carol is a member of the Northern California Unit and helps maintain the unit's HSA-registered Origanum collection.

Rexford Talbert
Rexford Talbert has been a member of The Herb Society of America for 37 years and is the recipient of the Nancy Putnam Howard Award for Horticultural Excellence. He is the co-founder and former chairman of the South Texas Unit and has served on the HSA Board of Directors. Rex served on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration as Senior Information Research Scientist and is now retired. He has written and lectured on herbs for over 40 years and has been published in The Herb Companion, Kitchen Gardens, The Gilded Herb and The Herbarist, among others. His particular interest is the botany and taxonomy of the family Lamiaceae.

Arthur O. Tucker, Ph.D.
Dr. Tucker is a research professor at Delaware State University specializing in the chemistry and identification of herbs. He is a member of the Rosemary Circle and the Northern New Jersey Unit of HSA and has received HSA's Nancy Putnam Howard Award for Excellence in Horticulture and the Helen de Conway Little Medal of Honor. Art has a B.S. from Kutztown State College and M.S. and doctoral degrees from Rutgers University. He is a nationally recognized expert on flavor, fragrance and medicinal plants and has been published many times in scholarly and popular publications. Dr. Tucker is co-author of The Big Book of Herbs with Thomas DeBaggio.

Barbara Varland
Barbara is an HSA member at large and has maintained an HSA-registered Origanum collection since 1999. She is a retired English teacher, a life-long gardener and Master Gardener. Barbara lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Tina Marie Wilcox
Tina Marie Wilcox has been the head gardener and herbalist at the Ozark Folk Center's Heritage Herb Garden in Mountain View, Arkansas, since 1984. She tends the extensive gardens, plans and coordinates annual herbal events and workshops and facilitates the production of the plants sold there. Tina Marie has collaborated with Susan Belsinger on articles that have appeared in The Herbarist, The Herb Companion and Herbs for Health. She is an HSA member at large.

Acknowledgments

Additional editorial assistance provided by Robin Siktberg. Research assistance provided by HSA Librarian/Webmaster Christine Liebson and HSA Assistant Librarian Holly Ferkol.

Image Credits

Images included courtesy of Gwen Barclay, Susan Belsinger, Rex Talbert, Tina Marie Wilcox, the U.S. National Arboretum, the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and The Herb Society of America Archives (from the collection of slides of the Northern California Unit's Origanum collection). Line drawings of O. vulgare subsp. vulgare and O. rotundifolium by Robin Siktberg. Gerard's herbal image photographed from: Gerard, John, 1545-1612. The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes. Enlarged and revised by T. Johnson. London: A. Islip, J. Norton and R. Whitakers, 1633. (HSA Library rare book collection).

Cover photographs: O. 'Herrenhausen' by Robin Siktberg, O. xmajoricum by Susan Belsinger, O. libanoticum and O. onites from HSA Archives collection. 

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