Thyme Pink Chintz
Thymus serpyllum 'Pink Chintz'
This is a mat forming thyme with lots of dense grey - green hairy foliage
which is covered in long lasting clear pink flowers during June and July.
The flowers, like other thymes, really attract bees, butterflies and other useful pollinating insects into your garden.
This is an ideal ground cover plant, either alone or as a mix with other creeping thymes.
It is also extremely drought tolerant - an easy care plant.
The soil needs to be poor - light and low in nutrients - otherwise the plant will become leggy
with lots of foliage at expense of the flowers.
The flowers, which are produced a little earlier in the summer than some other varieties, extend the flowering season.
It looks well planted as a mix with maybe with Thyme creeping red and the white flowered thyme to give a good colour mix.
This is a fine herb for growing in a container or over a stone wall, the arching stems trail gracefully and soften the edges.
It also looks good, as part of a thyme path or between paving stones where the fragrance is released
when it is walked on and also in rock gardens,
or as a low edging to the herb garden where the foliage will spill out onto the paving or gravel surround.
Like all thymes it needs to be trimmed back hard after flowering to maintain strong bushy growth
and to stop it getting straggly.
Have a look at our growing ideas article about 'Prostrate herbs' for some ideas!