This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.
Re: What thyme is it?
To: m*@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Re: What thyme is it?
From: W* &* C* R* <r*@best.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 21:14:32 -0700
Hi Nan,
>Hi all! Can you recommend a thyme? I am looking for a white or yellow (?)
>flowering thyme that is low growing (to be used between pavers), tolerant
>of full sun, maybe low water, and some foot traffic. What do you suggest?
Ah ha! My favorite subject! :)
I don't think there are any yellow-flowering thymes, or rather, no thymes with yellow flowers (if anyone knows of one, please let me know!). There is a white flowered form that would work well, I think. It's T. serpyllum albus, which is pretty easy to find around here (here being the south bay area, aka Silicon Valley). Descriptions:
"The tiny, moss-like foliage is a bright, "sunny" green which contrasts well with other thymes. Very attractive pure white flowers. 1" x 18". USDA Zone 4-10." (Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery, Medford, Oregon)
"Lovely creeper with snow-white flowers." (Lamb Nurseries, Spokane, Washington)
"Tiny, bright green foliage. Pure white flowers. Somewhat more shade tolerant. 1 in. x 18 in. USDA Zone 4-9." (A High Country Garden, Santa Fe, New Mexico)
"Evergreen hardy perennial, prostrate form, a creeper. White flowers in summer. Bright green small leaves. Decorative aromatic and good ground cover. Zone 4" ("Herbs for the Home" by Jekka McVicar)
I have this in among other creeping thymes (an effect I recommend, btw), where its bright green leaves and white flowers peek out of the greyer wooly thyme, etc. I also have one plant, originally part of a six pack, that has spread to about a 1 ft. diameter circle in two years.
Here's a web page with a photo of it: http://www.best.com/~renshaw/garden/thymealba.html
You can also browse through the other thyme pages I've put together to see if anything else strikes your fancy.
While there aren't any thymes with yellow flowers, there are several thymes with yellow or yellow-varigated foliage. Look for T. citriodorus 'Archer's Gold', T. c. 'Aureus', T. c. 'Bertram Anderson', T. c. 'Doone Valley', T. c. 'Golden King', T. 'E.B. Anderson', T. 'Golden Dwarf' (this doesn't bloom), T. praecox 'Evergold', T. p. 'Goldstream', or T. p. 'Rainbow Falls'. I haven't seen all of these; just have descriptions of them in my database. The citriodorus thymes are generally lemon scented. Doone Valley tends to be splashed with yellow more in the winter than summer for me, but it's a really nice lemon thyme. However, it tends to grow into more of a tiny shrub than a creeper. Let me know if you want more information on any or all of these.
Cheryl, the thyme addict
@--,--`----
Cheryl Renshaw
Santa Clara, California (Silicon Valley)
USDA Zone 9/10, Sunset Zone 15