I wanted to add fresh herbs to a salad and so while stretching across our herb garden for some sprigs that were just beyond my reach, I fell face first into our oregano patch.

Typically, I would have been annoyed. But instead, I was all smiles, no doubt because I had fallen into what the ancient Greeks knew as "happiness plants."

"Oregano" means "joy of the mountains" in Greek, and Greece's mountainsides are where oregano is native and where it's been used as a culinary and medicinal herb for centuries.

Legend has it that Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, gave oregano to the ancient for the sole purpose of making her people happy. Yet I'll bet Aphrodite had no idea that her gift would someday make people all over the world happy, especially folks who enjoy Mediterranean cuisine.

Growing oregano

"Greek oregano" (Oreganum vulgare hirtum), with its peppery bite and lovely, pale-pink flowers atop 2-foot plants that have long, vertical stems, is my favorite oregano to grow and to use fresh, frozen or dry.

It's easy to grow, too. Simply give this pest-free perennial plenty of sunlight and soil that drains freely.

But also give oregano plenty of room to spread, since this member of the mint family naturalizes so quickly it will invade other areas of a garden via an aggressive root system that dislikes confining spaces.

The aroma and taste of fresh-cut oregano is several-times less than that of oregano that's been harvested and processed at its peak, that is, oregano that's been frozen or dried after being harvested early in the morning and prior to the plants blooming.

Remember, too, the most aromatic and best tasting oregano plants aren't started from seeds. So I purchase plants that I "taste" first. If the taste-test produces a smile, I become the plant's new caregiver.

This week in the garden

I've been spreading sprigs of fresh-cut mints — including oregano — throughout the garden to camouflage the scents of plants that are relished by rabbits. The mints overpower the rabbit's sense of smell with the aromas of plants they have no interest in.

Camouflaging my scent with mints also increases my success rate in catching mice. Before I handle mouse traps, then, I crush and rub mints between my hands.