Fresh herbs lose their flavor and aroma after a few months, so make sure you use it within this time frame. After the sprigs dry out completely, store the leaves in an air-tight container, preferably in the fridge. It’s essential to wait until any dew evaporates from the leaves before you harvest.Īfter harvesting the springs, bunch them together and hang them in a cool, dry place in your home, such as the attic.
#Creeping thyme ground cover varieties full
Harvest the new growth after the blooming period ends, and make sure you do it in the early morning to retain the full flavor and fragrance of the leaves. If you plan on drying your thyme leaves, then wait until the plant finishes flowering in the early fall. If you intend on growing creeping thyme to meet your culinary needs, then it’s important to note that both fresh and dried thyme has plenty of uses in recipes. The aromatic herb brings flavor and fragrance to meals like soups and stews, and it’s a favorite additive in some olive oil blends as well. When the plants are flowering, all they need is a light brush against them to release a powerful and pleasing fragrance into the air. Use the creeping thyme as a border around flowerbeds, or as ground cover around tall perennials and shrubs. Planting white and red creeping thyme produces a spectacular visual display in the garden when they start to bloom.įor those gardeners with a scent garden, creeping thyme adds a delicious fragrance and aroma to the garden as it starts to flower. This slow-growing variety won’t engulf your stepping stones in the same manner as fast-growing varieties. Wooly thyme is an excellent choice for tight spaces in the yard that need some ground cover. It’s important to note that caraway thyme may proliferate, suiting landscaping purposes where the garden requires broad coverage. However, the majority of gardeners use creeping thyme to fill in the gaps between stepping stones in pathways, or empty spaces in the yard. The short and stocky nature of creeping thyme makes it the ideal choice for adequate ground cover, and some gardeners may even use creeping thyme as an alternative to grass in the yard. Creeping thyme also has a use as folk medicine, where it reduces inflammation and calms the nervous system. Of course, there is the culinary use of the herb, but we suggest you stick with English creeping thyme if you want to use it for flavor in cooking your recipes.
Planting creeping thyme in your garden allows you to enjoy the sweet fragrance of the plant when it starts to flower.
#Creeping thyme ground cover varieties free
Using creeping thyme as groundcover chokes the life out of invasive weeds, keeping your flowerbeds free from weed growth. Purple creeping thyme growing in between stepping stones on a Xeriscape patioĬreeping thyme has many uses, but it’s the best choice for groundcover for your flowerbeds.
Other varieties of creeping thyme include the following. It’s this variety that you use to season food. Honey produced by bees feeding on creeping thyme plants near Mount Hymettus, Athens, yields a pleasant herbal and sweet flavor.Įnglish thyme is the most popular variety of the herb, and it’s also known as garden or common thyme.
North American gardens offer ideal growing conditions for creeping thyme, with pollinators and butterflies finding the plants attractive. However, the popularity of this plant means that it now grows in gardens all around the world. Thyme is an indigenous plant to parts of Eurasia. Woolly thyme can grow up to 6-inches in height, but it’s a slow developer and spreads slowly. Creeping lemon thyme, caraway thyme, and spicy orange thyme produce pink flowers, and the plant remains short, reaching a height of 4-inches.īoth pink and red creeping thyme also stay short, reaching heights of 4-inches or less. The vines begin to flower in the later springtime to early summer. This perennial grows to a low height and then spreads out with its vine-like growing habits.Ĭreeping thyme has foliage with a fine texture, and they spread out across the ground, producing flowers with different shades of color, depending on the type. The thymus family encompasses a broad group of plants and herbs, all of which thrive in moderate climates. Creeping thyme is edible like its cousin and can be used in cooking or steeped for teas and tinctures. Creeping thyme is a woody, perennial species of the Thymus that acts as an excellent ground cover for sunny areas of the garden.
0 kommentar(er)
