Thymus Lammefjord - Lemon thyme

Thymus 'Lammefjord' is a variety of lemon thyme with small evergreen dark green leaves that turn purple in winter and release a highly lemon-scented fragrance. It forms a beautiful regular carpet that tolerates moderate foot traffic. In June and July, this small aromatic perennial is covered with small bright pink flowers. Suited to dry and poor soils, plant it in any well-drained soil in the sun, it is very hardy but does not like root competition. It can be used as a condiment and is also a very pretty rockery or sunny border plant. It is essential in dry and rocky gardens, where the soil is thin and does not retain moisture.

Thymus citriodorus has a controversial origin, some botanists considering it as a hybrid of Thymus vulgaris (the thyme of our garrigues), while others consider it a separate species called Thymus serpyllium var. citriodorus. In any case, 'Lammefjord', like its ancestors, is a medicinal and aromatic plant of the mint family (or labiates) originating from Southern Europe and North Africa.

This variety has a spherical and carpeting habit, almost prostrate and branched, and forms a 10 to 15 cm high and 30 to 40 cm wide foliage mat. Its small dark green, oval and toothed, leathery foliage covers flexible stems with rooting woody bases, so that the plant spreads slowly. In winter, it takes on purplish hues. Numerous essential oil glands are visible under a magnifying glass on the 1 cm long leaves. Flowering takes place from June to July-August depending on the climate. Very small tubular, two-lipped bright pink flowers bloom in cymes on 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 pivot, with a fundamental role, which 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 'Lammefjord' thyme is decorative all year round and proves very hardy when planted in perfectly drained or even arid soil. Plant it along the edge of a dry bed of plants such as lavenders, rockroses, bushy sages, dwarf wormwoods, cotton lavenders or rosemary. It thrives in a very sunny rockery with Aubrieta canescens, golden or silver baskets, germanders and creeping ceanothuses. It can also be used as a condiment; its garrigue-scented leaves are highly appreciated in cooking. Used alone or in a bouquet garni, combined with Bay, Parsley and Rosemary, Thyme leaves flavour stews, sauces, marinades and court-bouillons. They are also used in infusion, known to relieve digestive ailments. A sun-loving plant, thyme can also be planted in a dry border, or in a pot, close at hand near the kitchen...