About Creeping Thyme

Types

• Growers and landscapers can choose from over 150 varieties of creeping thyme. For example, Annie Hall is a spreading plant with narrow green leaves and dark pink flowers. Doretta Klaber, which grows up to 1 inch tall, has pink flowers and tiny, hairy leaves that turn brown in the winter. Doone Valley's variegated leaves turn reddish in the fall, and Alba's white flowers emerge from mounds of foliage in the spring.

Culture

• Creeping thyme prefers well-drained, light, alkaline, nutrient-poor soil. Rocky or sandy soils offer good drainage for these drought-loving plants. It produces high levels of aromatic oils in moderately unfertile, dry soil. Most varieties prefer full sun. However, some, including variegated and woolly thymes, grow well in partial shade. A hard pruning in the spring and a light pruning after blooming encourages vigorous growth.

Propagation

• To preserve a cultivar's distinguishing characteristics, propagate creeping thyme by division or cutting. If you propagate by seed, your new plant may take three years to reach maturity, and it may lack the parent plant's characteristics. To divide spreading or mounding plants, remove a 2-inch segment from the original plant in the spring or fall. Add gravel to the soil to ensure adequate drainage and transplant the segment in its new location. Propagation by cutting works well for mounding varieties. Take a cutting from the plant in the fall and root it in moist sand. Transplant in the spring.

Benefits

• As a groundcover, creeping thyme tolerates heavy traffic and requires little watering or fertilization. If you disturb the plant, it will produce a pleasant fragrance. It spreads over walls and hillsides, adds colorful interest to borders and rock gardens and can even grow in a container. It grows well as an understory plant near shrubs and trees and does not overtake or strangle other flowers and herbs. The showy flowers attract bees and butterflies to the garden.

Considerations

• In damp conditions, creeping thyme plants are susceptible to fungus diseases such as gray mold and black root rot. Gray mold causes gray, fuzzy spore masses on water-soaked, decayed leaves, stems and flowers. Black root rot causes plant dieback and black lesions or girdling on roots. Thyme plants with woolly, hairy leaves are most susceptible to rot diseases. To prevent these diseases, allow the soil to dry before watering, and rake and remove nearby fallen tree leaves. Use mulch to direct excess rainwater away from the plant.