What Parts of the Thyme Plant Are Useable?

Thyme Leaves

• Thyme leaves are tiny, gray-green and highly aromatic. The leaves grow on stems that get woody as the plant matures. The leaves are useable either fresh or dried. To use fresh or dried thyme, cut a spring and put the whole thing in your dish, or pinch off the leaves and discard the stem. If you use the whole stem, pull it out before serving. While edible, thyme stems are woody and chewy.

Thyme Flowers

• When thyme blooms in late spring and early summer, tiny pale purple flowers bloom on the upper part of the leaf stalks. Add a flowering thyme sprig to platters for a fragrant garnish, or pinch off the individual flowers and sprinkle them in green salads to add color and delicate taste. Unlike dried leaves, thyme flowers are something you will likely only get when you grow your own plants.

Harvesting Thyme

• The best way to harvest time is by cutting individual sprigs when you need them. To get a continual harvest, grow several plants and take a few sprigs from each plant. To harvest thyme for drying, wait until the first flowers appear in late spring or early summer. Cut the top half of each sprig from the plant and tie them into bundles. You can hang the bundles in any warm, dry place, like a kitchen or sunny porch until they dry.

Growth Habit

• Thyme grows in small mounding clumps 6 to 12 inches tall and wide. The leaf stalks are green and tender early in the growing season and get woody and tough as the towards the end of the growing season. Thyme grows well in dry, rocky soil and full sun. You can grow it in a rock garden or rock wall, in patio planters or a dry part of the herb garden. In mild climates, thyme grows as an evergreen but in colder areas it will die back in the fall and regrow in the spring.

Varieties to Try

• Besides common thyme, several other edible varieties that also make attractive ground covers and perennials. Lemon thyme (Thymus x citriodorus) has edible leaves that have a fragrant, lemony scent and taste. Similar to lemon thyme, the cultivar "Lime" (Thymus x citriodorus "Lime") has leaves with a slight lime fragrance. A cultivar of common thyme "Orange Balsam" (Thymus "Orange Balsam") has orange scented leaves and pale pink flowers. All of these varieties grow in USDA zones 5 through 8.