Hi! I really would like to use this plant in our "rock" pathway. It receives sun during spring and summer, and deep shade in late fall and winter. Has anyone tried this plant? Is it easy to grow from seed ? (I don't think I could afford to buy enough plants - I have already blown the budget for plants this year!)
I looked at the trading pages, but no one was offering this.
Cheers,
Seandor
I have never seen the seeds for sale, are they? Otherwise you'll have to root cuttings.
I have Thymus 'Magic Carpet' seeds and am going to use them ofr the same purpose.
Youcan go to www.stepables.com and see the pictures of what they do with their proprietary plants.
Suzy
Thanks - I checked the link - very impressive - but more expensive than I can afford this year! :-)
Cheers,
Seandor
thymus serphyllum is widely used here as a substitute for grass! THe spring bloom is great, and it holds up well to our hot dry summers.
Seandor, No I wasn't suggesting you buy from them -- just look at what they've done and the genuses they've done it with. Also if they had any recomendations for sunny summers and shady winters as you've said you have. I haven't personally done the thyme YET, but it will be in pretty much full sun year 'round.
Suzy
A lot of the named varieties of thyme are propagated from cuttings because they're either sterile or they don't come true from seed. I've had good luck purchasing just 1 or 2 plants of a variety I liked and putting them into a windowbox where it's easy to encourage them to "layer" by fidding with the stems and pinning them under the soil here and there so they root. When they've spread out and rooted nicely, I can divide out a bunch of nice divisions to plant around. You could also take small, barely-rooted divisions and grow them on for a bit (until they've filled a 2 inch pot) before planting them out.
I think you can get seeds for 'Mother of Thyme' and for other varieties of T. serphyllum. Just this morning, I noticed bulk quantities of creeping thyme seed for sale on a site I was browsing, thymegarden.com. http://www.storesonline.com/site/561124/page/889133
Thanks Critterologist! Wow - for a lot less than buying plants I could overwhelm the whole city with thyme!
cheers,
Seandor
I haven't ordered from them (yet, LOL), but they have some good reviews in the Watchdog. We like to go to DeBaggio's in the spring (unfortunately, they don't do mail order), and I generally come home with a new thyme plant or two... and by the end of the summer, I've managed to multiply them pretty well!
BTW, I was paging through my Johnny's Selected Seeds catalog last night and noticed they have good bulk prices on a lot of seeds, including creeping thyme. Their price is less than thymegarden's, but they don't say how tall their T. serphyllum is.... might be worth contacting them to ask!
Thanks! a DG member is actually mailing me some extra seeds she has. I am going to give her a baby rose of sharon in exchange. Just a member for one week and already hugely benefitting :-)
