Thymus citriodorus Doone Valley - Lemon Thyme

Thymus x citriodorus 'Doone Valley' is a hybrid variety of lemon thyme with a dense and spreading habit, adapted to dry and poor soils, which is particularly attractive with its variegated evergreen foliage, as if illuminated by small golden spots. It emits a pleasant lemon aroma and is used in cooking like lemon thyme with fish, desserts, and to flavour infusions. Adorned with pink flowers in early summer, beneficial for bees, it is also a very pretty plant for rockeries or sunny borders. Essential in dry and rocky gardens, where the soil lacks depth and does not retain moisture.

The hybrid thyme 'Doone Valley' is a horticultural creation derived from Thymus x citriodorus. The latter has a controversial origin, with some botanists considering it as a hybrid of Thymus vulgaris (the thyme of our Mediterranean scrublands), while others consider it a separate species called Thymus serpyllum var. citriodorus. Whatever the case, 'Doone Valley', like its ancestors, is a medicinal and aromatic plant from the family Lamiaceae (or Labiatae) native to southern Europe and North Africa.

This Doone Valley variety has a creeping, prostrate, and branching habit, forming a carpet 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6in) tall and 40 cm (16in) wide. Its small, round and glossy foliage is randomly speckled with golden yellow. It covers flexible, woody-based, rooting stems, so the plant spreads slowly. The golden variegation is more pronounced in summer. Numerous essential oil glands are visible under a magnifying glass on the leaves. Flowering occurs from late May to July depending on the climate. Very small tubular and bilabiate flowers in pink bloom in cymes on the current year's shoots, attracting many pollinating insects. Like many Mediterranean plants adapted to drought, thymes develop a dual root system, consisting of a central taproot that penetrates deeply into the soil or into rock crevices, and a superficial network of very long rootlets capable of capturing the slightest surface moisture. The foliage persists in winter.

Thymus Doone Valley is decorative all year round and is very hardy when planted in perfectly drained or even arid soil. The elegant and bright colour of its foliage sets it apart from other culinary plants. Associate it with lavenders, cistus, shrubby salvias, dwarf wormwoods, cotton lavenders, or rosemary. It will thrive in a very sunny rockery, with gold or silver baskets, teucriums, and creeping ceanothus, for example. It is also used as a herb; its rustic-scented leaves are highly appreciated in cooking. Used alone or in a bouquet garni, combined with laurel, parsley, and rosemary, thyme leaves add flavour to stews, sauces and marinades.  They are also used in infusions, renowned for relieving digestive ailments. A sun-loving plant, thyme can also be planted in dry borders or in pots, allowing it to be close at hand near the kitchen…