Thymus praecox Red Carpet - Thyme

Thymus praecox Red Carpet forms a carpet covered with brilliant pink-red purplish flowers. Also known as creeping thyme, it is an excellent perennial groundcover for dry to arid areas with generous summer flowering. The plant forms a very low, very dense carpet that is pleasantly scented and evergreen in winter. It disappears in summer under a myriad of small honey-scented flowers. Ideal for rock gardens or in the gaps between paving stones and walls, this creeping thyme grows slowly, but is tolerant of drought or cold, in well-drained and poor soil. 

Native to Western Europe, Thymus praecox Red Carpet belongs to the mint famil.  In the wild, it is found in dry and arid places, especially on limestone and sandy soils. The Red Carpet cultivar is the dwarf form of this medicinal and aromatic plant. This perennial plant has a truly carpeting habit and forms a very dense foliage mat 5 cm (2in) high 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 the plant spreads laterally over time. Numerous essential oil glands are visible under a magnifying glass on the leaves. Its fragrance 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 dark pink flowers turning red, grouped in dense whorls, open in spherical clusters at the ends of the current year's shoots, attracting numerous 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 ground or into cracks in rocks, and a superficial network of very long rootlets capable of capturing even the slightest surface moisture. 

Thymus praecox Red Carpet is decorative all year round, and it is very hardy when planted in well-drained or even arid soil. Its dense carpeting habit makes it an ideal plant for elegantly filling gaps between paving stones, cracks and tops of walls, or the edges of a stone staircase, especially as it tolerates moderate foot traffic well. It dresses the ground in a dry area with plants like lavenders, rockroses, shrubby salvias, dwarf mugworts, cotton lavenders or rosemarys. It thrives in a very sunny rock garden, keeping company with Aubrieta canescens, golden or silver basket flowers. It is also used as a condiment; its leaves with a Mediterranean fragrance 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 fish stocks. They are also used in infusions, known to relieve digestive ailments. A sun-loving plant, thyme can also be planted in a dry border or in a pot, which allows it to be kept close at hand near the kitchen…