Thymus praecox Coccineus - Thyme

Thymus praecox 'Coccineus', also known thyme is a brilliant variety of groundcover thyme with abundant spring to summer flowers in bright red-magenta. This perennial forms a very low and compact carpet, with small, dark green, fragrant and evergreen foliage. Its spectacular flowering turns it into a living and purplish carpet where butterflies and bees gather. It is used in rock gardens, in the joints of paving stones and walls, or as an alternative to grass in a lightly trodden area. It grows slowly, with its head in the sun, but is not afraid of drought or cold, in well-drained and poor soil.

Native to Western Europe, Thymus praecox is a botanical species belonging to the Lamiaceae family. In the wild, it is found in dry and arid places, especially on limestone and sandy soils. The 'Coccineus' variety is the magenta-flowered form of this medicinal and aromatic plant. This variety has a very spreading habit and forms a dense carpet of foliage, 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2in) high and 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16in) wide. Its tiny, oval, leathery, villous foliage covers prostrate and rooting stems at the nodes, so that the plant spreads laterally over time. Numerous essential oil glands are visible under a magnifying glass on the 3 mm (0in) long leaves. Its fragrance is slightly less pronounced than that of Common Thyme, but more delicate. Flowering takes place from June to July-August depending on the climate. Very small tubular and bilabiate flowers, bright pink-red in colour, grouped in dense whorls, open in spherical cymes at the ends of the current year's shoots, covering the entire foliage and attracting many pollinating insects. Like many Mediterranean plants adapted to drought, thymes develop a dual root system, composed of a central taproot, 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.

Thymus praecox Coccineus is decorative all year round, and is very hardy when planted in perfectly drained or even arid soil. Its spreading habit makes it an ideal plant to elegantly fill in the joints of paving stones, cracks and tops of walls, or the edges of a stone staircase, especially as it tolerates moderate trampling. It will cover the ground in a dry garden bed with lavender, cistus, shrubby salvias, dwarf wormwoods, cotton lavenders, or rosemary. It will thrive in a very sunny rock garden, keeping company with Aubrieta canescens, golden or silver baskets, teucrium, creeping ceanothus, or other creeping varieties with pink, white or mauve flowers. It is also used as a seasoning; its leaves with a Mediterranean fragrance are highly appreciated in cooking. Used alone or in bouquet garni, combined with bay leaves, parsley and rosemary, thyme leaves flavour stews, sauces, marinades and fish stock. They are also used in herbal tea, known to relieve digestive problems. A plant for full sun, 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...