Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
ryanferre

Creeping Thyme

ryanferre
19 years ago

I am thinking about buying seeds of Creeping Thyme---lots of them! And I was wondering if anybody has tried sowing these seeds in situ? Did you have success? Or should I just do it the old fashioned way and propagate them! It doesn't matter to me if I have some loss--I am not doing a huge area--and I want it to look naturalized--but I am worried about keep the weeds down while they catch up---I DONT HAVE A BIG WEED PROBLEM! I am just worred about very small plants getting ripped up with weeds--when I pull--hehehe--hate those buggers!

Ry

Comments (5)

  • abgardeneer
    19 years ago

    Creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) is very easy to start from seed. I've only started it indoors, but there's no reason at all why it shouldn't germinate just fine in situ. (Plant species that aren't capable of propagating themselves by seeds without our help, probably would have died out long ago, right?)

    Don't worry about it "looking naturalized" - it makes no difference whether you start from seedlings or divisions. All it takes is some growing time, after which it will be indistinguishable as to whether you started from seedlings or divisions. And Thymus serpyllum is fast-growing anyway, so it won't take long.
    I'd suggest you remove perennial weeds from the area before you plant out your seedlings or divisions, then just stay on top of weeding out any annual weeds that sprout.

  • enchantedplace
    19 years ago

    {{gwi:373298}}
    Here is a photo of our bank of creeping thyme, transplanted from another area where it had spread.. all from one initial plant. In the beginning we had smothered out the grass on this terrace by heavy mulching and had put an edging of creeping thyme along the path, transplanted from offshoots of the original plant. It spread quickly, in our newly created organic soil. When we replaced the cedar wood chips on our path we made a bank of the old chips along the base of the retaining wall. I took divisions of the thyme and imbedded the roots into the chips. This is the result. It's nice to stand on to work in the area above. The thyme requires periodic trimming to keep it from spreading too much or becoming matted. It's good to give it a trim periodically which can be done by hand or with a weed eater and to keep older plants thinned out. In the photo, beyond the thyme, are perennial onion (aka 'tree onion') and Arp Rosemary.. backed up by the fall colors of crepe myrtle, along with a some late blooming petunias and salvias. This terrace was also filled with zinnias during the summer.EP

  • Vera_EWASH
    19 years ago

    I winter-sowed mine with good success :)

    see Winter-Sowing Forum

    Good luck,

    Vera

  • yellowbell
    19 years ago

    I had a creeping thyme growing (a transplant), and it did fine for a while, but then all of a sudden turned brown and slowly died. For a while there was a little bit of green left, but then some nearby oregano took over. Do you know what could have caused it to turn brown?

  • abgardeneer
    19 years ago

    I have no idea if this is what happened, but I'll toss it out for your consideration anyway.
    Thymes can be rather tricky to transplant, only for the reason that there is a lot of long, trailing top growth which does not necessarily have roots directly underneath it. You have to be careful to lift the green growth up and make sure that you are getting a section of roots with it before you dig. It's quite easy to just get a big bunch of the green top growth, with only a little bit of roots or none at all if you're not careful - when planted, this will stay green for a while, then will start to die off, and only the little bits that are connected to roots will survive.

    Does that sound like what might have happened?

Sponsored