Author: Alice Spenser-Higgs

Thyme is one of the easiest herbs to grow and is also an excellent groundcover for sunny, drought-tolerant gardens. The ‘groundcover' thymes have a range of foliage colours - bright yellow, yellow and green, dark green, green and white and silver – and all produce pink, purple or white flowers that appear like a haze about the leaves in summer.

Just imagine the aroma on a hot summer's day, especially if they are planted in between paving stones for stepping upon! The thymes that everyone knows about, common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) and Lemon Thyme (Thymus x citriodorus) are equally at home in the garden although they tend to find their way to the herb garden or the potted herb collection. They are used primarily for their culinary and medicinal properties.

As we enter full summer and with the hottest months ahead of us its worth looking at how to incorporate these multipurpose, tough as nails plants in the garden.

Here are some ideas:

• If you have a lot of paving that looks stark and gets very hot, lift a few blocks and fill the spaces with different thymes. Most of the groundcover thymes are very low growing, about 5 to 7cm high and spread, but not rampantly. They won't need constant cutting back.
• Tip: use herbs sparingly in a pathway so that it looks natural. The plants will spread or reseed themselves it there is a crack, so nature takes over the design!
• Thyme is an ideal plant in gravel gardens, either softening the edges of an informal bed by spilling onto the gravel or planted in gravel walkways, to give it a more romantic air.
• Grow thyme in a hanging basket, teaming it up with other drought resistant plants like pelargoniums, vinca, verbena, and portulaca or other herbs like sage, origanum, chives and creeping rosemary.
• For a lawn like effect without needing lawn, combine flattish stones and thyme, as well as other herbs that can stand being walked upon, like Corsican mint, pennyroyal and lawn chamomile. The herbs eventually spread almost greening the entire area.
• A feature like a birdbath, urn, or sundial will be accentuated by surrounding it with low growing thyme because the plants don't grow up and obscure it.
• An ideal thyme for a rock garden is Bressingham thyme ( Thymus doefleri ) which is a free flowering rockery plant with aromatic, hairy grey leaves and pink flowers in summer.
• Grow thyme in an un- mortared stone wall to give the wall an aging, craggy look over time.

Ground cover thymes

• Creeping Thyme ( Thymus s.'Coccineus' ) is a very decorative and strongly aromatic plant with dark green leaves and bright red flowers in summer.
• Doone valley Thyme ( Thymus hybrid ) has t iny, lemon scented green and gold leaves that are topped by purple flowers in summer. This is an excellent groundcover that also lends itself to being grown as a container plant.
• Bressingham Thyme ( Thymus doefleri ) has aromatic hairy grey leaves and pink flowers.
• Green Thyme ( Thymus serpyllum ) and White thyme ( Thymus serpyllum ‘Alba' ) are prostrate growers, with bright green leaves and white flowers. There are many medicinal uses for the antiseptic properties contained in the leaves.
• Golden Thyme ( Thymus ceaspitius ‘Aureus' ) has bright yellow fragrant leaves that offset by small pink flowers in summer. The flavour filled leaves can also be used medicinally and in Mediterranean cuisine.

Growing conditions

All thymes need full sun and light, well drained soil, tending towards the sandy side. Constant picking will keep them in shape and a drench with a liquid fertiliser once or twice a month is a good idea if you are harvesting constantly.

• The herbalist's thymes - Common Thyme ( Thymus vulgaris ) and Lemon Thyme ( Thymus x citriodorus ) add flavour to almost every kind of dish, especially the lemon scented thyme. Being a robust herb it can withstand long cooking in casseroles, stews and roasts. Medicinally, thyme is a powerful antiseptic and tonic that strengthens the lungs and can be used as a remedy for throat and chest infections, such as bronchitis and whooping cough. It is also helpful in relieving hay fever. Used externally as a poultice or compress on the skin it soothes bites and stings and as a wash treats fungal infections like athlete's foot, thrush and ringworm.

Herbal recipe for tired and aching muscles (after a day in the garden)

Make an infusion with 25g of Thymus vulgaris or Rosmarinus officinalis to 750ml of water. Pour freshly boiled water over the herb, brew for 10minutes, strain into the bath and soak for 20 minutes.