Lavender Thyme will spread like a ground cover but it does get taller and is more suitable for areas that need cover but don’t get walked on too much.ĭoone Valley Thyme is one of our favorite ground cover thymes but again it is a bit taller at about four inches with flowers. Caraway Thyme is the only culinary Ground Cover Thyme in the bunch. It cascades nicely down hillsides that aren’t too steep. It can be walked on and is extremely rugged. Of these large space thymes those that are lowest and most suitable for areas that you want to look more like a lawn are Pink Lemonade, Goldstream, Creeping Pink, Lemon Frost, Reiter’s, Hall’s Woolly and Coconut.Ĭaraway Thyme is the fastest growing and has a pillowy mounding habit instead of a “looks like a lawn” habit. Silver Needle Thyme has the most unique leaf structure and grows flat enough to make a good flagstone filler.įaster growing, wider spreading thymes more suitable for large spaces include: In hot summer areas, it prefers afternoon shade. Leaves of soft cream and green make this tiny thyme a must have for brightening up dark stones. Highland Cream Thyme is our variegated stepping stone filler. Woolly Thyme is the most silver leaved of all the Thymes and never blooms, while White Moss Thyme is a lovely chartreuse with little white flowers in late spring. Woolly Thyme and White Moss Thyme (sometimes called Creeping White Thyme) are also slower growing, very flat and do well between stones where space is cramped.

Pink Chintz blooms very early in spring, followed by Mint Thyme, with Annie Hall blooming well into the summer. Pink Chintz Thyme, Mint Thyme and Annie Hall are slightly taller (1 to 2 inches with the flowers) but have the distinction of putting on a spectacular flowering show. They bloom very little which helps them to remain closer to the ground. They are the slowest growing of this group and are the logical choices for those two inch wide spots. Slower growing thymes for in between stepping stones and flagstones include:Įlfin Thyme and Leprechaun Thyme are very small and very flat (about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch tall). If you have a high traffic area, consider putting in a hardscape walkway with thymes in between. However, just like any plant, if the leaves are repeatedly rubbed they will fall off and the plant will die. Ground Cover Thymes can take light foot traffic. As long as the ground is moist where that stem segment hits, the plant will root and continue to creep. The increased stem segment also provides a greater rooting zone for the thyme allowing it to spread faster. Creeping Pink thyme, with almost an inch of stem between its sets of leaves, grows much more quickly than say a Pink Chintz Thyme or a Woolly Thyme whose leaves are very close together. Stem segments grow faster without having to produce tightly knit sets of leaves. Some thymes produce sets of leaves very close together while others are spaced further apart. Just like all plants, thyme plants spread by growing from one set of leaves to the next. Slower growing thymes are more appropriate for small spaces like those between flagstones. They will cover up stepping stones, spreading their stems onto paving searching for ground in which to root. It is also necessary to understand that all ground covers are not flat and lawn like.įaster growing thymes stuffed into a small space will disappoint with time. It is important to know the difference between a ground cover thyme that is appropriate for a two-inch space and one that is appropriate for a twenty foot space. But, different folks have different amounts of ground to cover and different expectations’ of what a ground cover is. Most folks want to use the Ground Cover Thymes to cover the ground. It is the Ground Cover Thymes that tend to confuse. There aren’t too many and their names are fairly descriptive, like Lemon Thyme and Orange Balsam Thyme. A blessing because there are so many different kinds and a curse because there are so many different kinds.

It is being threatened by the fast growing Pink Lemonade Thyme which will probably take over both the Elfin Thyme and the Woolly Thyme in a year or so. If you look closely you can see a small patch of a slightly bluer thyme in between the two flowering ones. In the back, Pink Heretus Thyme is also in full bloom. The taller flowering Caraway Thyme is in the foreground to the right of the Woolly Thyme. It flows into the silvery, non-flowering Woolly Thyme near the boundary board which separates this garden from the lawn. Pink Lemonade Thyme is the bright green thyme that has the shadow of the tree on it. These five ground cover thymes of varying colors, textures and heights are growing in a pleasing mosaic. Once established, ground cover thymes also help to keep weed seeds from sprouting. Ground Cover Thymes are not only beautiful and soft to walk on, they are also the perfect way to keep the ground cool and conserve moisture.

Flowering thyme ground cover