The beauty about thyme is that if you have a dry, sunny spot in a screen bed or rockery you can just plant some there and it will not only provide you with fragrant leaves for use in salads and in savoury cooked dishes, but it will also provide pretty flowers and delicious scent.
Most thymes are hardy perennials, thriving in light, well-drained soil.
If you want a small shrub, go for the lemon-scented Thymus x citriodorus Silver Queen' or the common thyme. T. vulgaris.
If you want a mat-forming, spreading thyme which flowers at ground level, good varieties include T. serpyllum, which produces small pink flowers. Upright varieties such as T. citriodorus are good for edging formal herb gardens.
Shrubby thymes should be trimmed lightly after flowering, to keep the plant tidy.
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