Thyme progress

For some reason it is difficult to find many named varieties of thyme in Australia.  For some reason it is almost impossible to find any comparisons of thyme varieties.  Plant nurseries write such lovely things about their plants, but an honest side by side comparison is practically unheard of.

Last year I wrote a post comparing some thyme varieties to highlight the differences between them.  To expand on that, below are comparative pictures of the growth after about 6 months.  The pictures were taken at the beginning of spring after the plants had survived winter.

I wish I had planted them further apart, but I needed the space so they are cramped together.  The small pots contain cuttings of each variety.  You can see how each of the varieties of thyme grew compared to the others.  They are probably each double that size now and have started to flower.

Four varieties of thyme growing side by side.  It is pretty obvious that Jekka's thyme is larger and stronger than the other varieties.  It goes outside of the picture to the left somewhat.

Left to right: Jekka's thyme, Tabor thyme, Variegated lemon thyme, Orange peel thyme

Jekka's Thyme on the left, there is even more off the side of the picture.  Tabor thyme on the right.  You can even see a little bit of variegated lemon thyme on the far right.

Jekka's thyme on left (and out of the picture, it got big), Tabor Thyme on right

Tabor thyme on the left, variegated lemon thyme on the right, and orange peel thyme on the far right.  You can tell from the picture that Tabor thyme is pretty large and healthy. 

Tabor thyme an Variegated lemon thyme

Variegated lemon thyme and orange peel thyme.  Tabor thyme is on the far left.  You may not be able to tell how low and dense orange peel thyme is.  Orange peel thyme would make an excellent and useful living mulch in a pot under something tall such as a dwarf citrus tree.

Variegated lemon thyme and Orange peel thyme

Then I tried to get pictures of the leaves of each thyme variety closer up.  Keep in mind that these were taken at the end of winter/beginning of spring when the leaves are still compact.

Jekka's thyme - the leaves get a lot longer than this

Tabor thyme - the leaves also get a lot larger and rounder

Variegated lemon thyme - always remove any all green growth

Lemon peel thyme - tiny little leaves

Thyme leaves from left to right with ruler for scale: Garden thyme, Lemon thyme, Variegated lemon thyme, orange peel thyme, Jekka's thyme, Tabor thyme

 

All of these varieties of thyme were good, but I have never come across thyme that grows with the vigour of Jekka's thyme.  It is far more productive than any other variety I have grown.  It grows through anything and is forgiving of all kinds of neglect.  It flowers like crazy in spring, and it sets down roots when the stems start getting too long and virtually makes its own rooted cuttings for you to snip off.  It has large fragrant leaves, but best of all it grows a lot of leaves so you get decent harvests.

I sell some thyme varieties, plus other edible herbs, perennial vegetables, and heirloom vegetable seeds through my for sale page.  If you are interested have a look.