Thyme ground cover

14 April 2022, 07:08 PM

RealPlayer

Thyme ground cover

In years past, someone here…maybe PJ…posted threads about growing thyme as ground cover. Now gone due to periodic purges.

We are thinking about it for gaps between paving stones in the patio. It’s really just ragged pieces of bluestone with plenty of gaps.

Ideas? Thyme varieties? Procedure?

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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray

14 April 2022, 07:14 PM

dolmansaxlil

I would love to do this as well. If I had my way the whole lawn would be thyme (or clover, which I think is lovely though I’m sure my neighbours would disagree).

14 April 2022, 07:17 PM

wtg

Many years ago I saw this company’s plants at a local nursery. Some interesting choices along the lines of what y’all are considering…and practical info about plant selection and maintenance.

Stepables.

https://www.stepables.com/

14 April 2022, 08:33 PM

Piano*Dad

We have creeping thyme as ground cover in our place in New Mexico. It grows between the flagstones.

14 April 2022, 08:36 PM

jodi

I would get the very low growing stuff for in between pavers, not the regular or Woolley (which is what PJ grew) - the bigger thymes get too tall and leggy and will cover your pavers. The small stuff (it’s the kind people like to use in fairy gardens) would be perfect. Scotch and Irish moss would work too (I had that in between my pavers in Washington state).

14 April 2022, 09:11 PM

Steve Miller

Mmmmmm… Thyme….

14 April 2022, 09:21 PM

pianojuggler

I still have some bits of wooly thyme going. Some softer and fuzzier, some less fuzzy and shinier leaves. But the varieties with very tiny leaves and don’t get higher than an inch make good walkable ground cover.

I found there are also varieties that flower and those that don’t. The flowering ones get a bit less friendly to walk on, but they seem to be hardier.

The dog loved to roll in the wooly thyme. We called it “playing pot roast”. He smelled great.

For areas that don’t get walked on, there’s a thyme I like called Archer’s gold that is a bit woodier and very hardy.

jodi also gave me some cuttings of lithodora. It has bright blue flowers and is low growing, but not quite stepable. I recommend it for edges.

Another cool thing for ground cover for light traffic areas is Corsican mint. Walk on it barefoot and your feet will smell lovely.

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15 April 2022, 05:45 AM

Steve Miller

“Playing pot roast”

15 April 2022, 05:57 AM

Steve Miller

RP, you might try planting a couple of different kinds and see which ones grow best. I planted 4 kinds and ended up with two that did well. The two that survived were marked “common thyme” and “German thyme”. Both stayed pretty low and didn’t mind being sheared. One grew better in the Spring and the other in the fall but I couldn’t tell you which was which.

Can you get the thyme with the roots still on and packed in water at the grocery store? I meant to try some of that in the ground but I never did - the idea being it’s probably a variety grown for flavor. I haven’t seen it packed that way here but I haven’t really looked, either.

[edit] This article is pretty good. It says the really low growing kinds aren’t really edible - I didn’t know that. It also says that thyme is hardy to Zone 4, which in theory means I can grow it here (6A). I’ll give it a shot.

15 April 2022, 06:54 PM

RealPlayer

Thanks for all the info. Looking into all this now!

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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray

15 April 2022, 07:06 PM

jodi

the Corsican mint PJ mentions is wonderful. I had that too - smelled so good!

16 April 2022, 12:59 PM

piqué

we grew woolly thyme, scotch moss, and irish moss between the native stones of our patio. woolly thyme is hardier. scotch and irish moss need more water and cant take as much abuse. be aware that when they bloom they attract bees, so wear shoes when you go out to the patio!

we also planted, in areas that were out of the traffic pattern, creeping phlox, native wildflowers like monkey flower, pasque flower, and several others. we put in a small water feature in the corner that flooded these peripheral areas so that they would thrive.

the patio was bedded in sand, and then we put a mix of sandy loam in between the stones for the steppables. everything did very, very well until i rented out the house and a new tenant, a transplant from seattle, thought the plants were dead in early spring and pulled them out.

he didn't understand dormancy.