How to Pick the Perfect variety of Thyme

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By GreenGardenChic
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Patchwork of Thyme

Culinary or ground-cover? That is the question. If you want to grow thyme because you want or cook with it OR because you want a low-maintenance drought-tolerant ground-cover that suppresses weeds, this article is for you.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Step 1

'French Thyme': Robust flavor, the best thyme to grow for culinary uses. This thyme has a grey-green color. Aromatic foliage with pink spring flowers.
Step 2

'English Thyme': The classic cooking variety. This is the thyme most chefs would include if they could only grow one kind of thyme. This hardy variety is excellent for drying. Very hardy to cold damage.
Step 3

'Lemon thyme': All the flavor of common thyme with a lemony punch and fragrance. The evergreen foliage is variegated green and yellow. This one is popular to use with fish or chicken and makes great flavored oil.
Step 4

'Orange Balsam Thyme': Highly sought after as a culinary ingredient, the unusual flavor of orange mixes well with soups and poultry. One of the taller varieties (1 foot tall) this aromatic variety spills carelessly into pathways and over the rims of pots.
Step 5

'Wooly Thyme': The best ground cover. The ground hugging, grey-blue foliage spreads quickly in poor soil and requires little water to thrive. This is a ground cover that can do wonders to crowd out weeds while thriving on neglect.
Step 6

'Red Creeping Thyme': Fills in quickly between stepping stones and over pathways. This wiry dense growth explodes with flowers that are as close to the color red as you will see on any thyme. Fast creeper.
Step 7

'Elfin Thyme': Ground cover with emerald green leaves that grow so closely together the texture seems "spongy." The carpet grows quickly and is covered with pink flower in the spring. Great for filler in-between pavers.
Step 8

'Doone Valley Thyme': Similar fragrance to lemon thyme and yellow variegation to the leaves. Not grow for culinary purposes, this ground cover spreads quickly and takes on a reddish hue during the colder months of the year.
Step 9

'Mother of Thyme': Another beautiful grey-green foliage creeper. This is a great one to grow between stepping stones and it fills in very fast.