Thymus praecox Bressingham - Thyme

Thymus praecox Bressingham is a ground-covering thyme that is covered with pink, more or less purple flowers.  Also known as wild thyme, it is an excellent perennial groundcover for dry to arid soil, with abundant summer flowers that produce honey.  The plant forms a very low, very dense carpet, pleasantly fragrant and evergreen in winter. It disappears in summer under a myriad of small honey-flowering flowers. Ideal in rockeries or in the joints of slabs and walls, this creeping thyme grows slowly, but is not afraid of drought or cold, in well-drained and poor soil. 

Native to Western Europe, the early thyme belongs to the Lamiaceae family. In nature, it is found in dry and arid places, especially on limestone and sandy soils. The Bressingham cultivar forms a very dense, 10 cm (4in) high foliage carpet and 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16in) wide. Its tiny oval, leathery, hairy foliage covers flexible, prostrate stems that root at the nodes, so that the plant spreads laterally over time. Numerous essential oil glands are visible under a magnifying glass on the leaves. Its scent is slightly less pronounced than that of common thyme, but more refined. Flowering occurs from June to July-August depending on the climate. Very small flowers, more or less purple, grouped in dense whorls, bloom in spherical cymes at the ends of the year's shoots, attracting many pollinating insects. Like many Mediterranean plants adapted to drought, thymes develop a double root system, consisting of a central taproot, with a fundamental role, which sinks deep into the soil or into cracks in rocks, and a superficial network of very long rootlets capable of capturing the slightest surface moisture. 

Thymus praecox Bressingham is decorative all year round and it is very hardy when planted in perfectly drained or even arid soil. Its low-growing, spreading habit makes it an ideal plant for filling joints in paving, cracks and tops of walls, or the edges of a stone staircase, especially as it tolerates moderate foot traffic well. It covers the ground in a dry land plant bed like lavender, rockroses, shrubby salvias, dwarf wormwood, cotton lavenders or rosemarys. It also thrives in a very sunny rockery, keeping company with Aubrieta canescens, basket-of-gold or silver. It is also used as a condiment: its leaves are highly appreciated in cooking. Used alone or in a bouquet garni, combined with bay leaves, parsley and rosemary, thyme leaves flavor stews, sauces, marinades and court-bouillons. They are also used in infusions, known to relieve digestive ailments. A sun-loving plant, thyme is also planted in dry borders or in pots, which allows it to be kept close to the kitchen…