My thyme was growing like crazy, flowers and thick as it could be. Then suddenly it started dying, turning brown and dead as it could be. Gets water fine. I put on some Home Defense, and some fungal stuff. I do have a ground squirrel, so that could be it. Bought some repllent stuff and sprinkled that around. I’m out of ideas, anyone have any?
Jerry,
Thyme has very strange behavior. I use it a lot. I have two areas that I planted and it died. This year it all came back, in spades. It’s going crazy now and spreading like wild fire. I have another area where it died and didn’t come back. Go figure. The micro climate and soil seems to be the determinate. I know this doesn’t help much but keep the faith. It might just recover.
Our Thyme does about the same as Don states… Some grows, some dies, some comes back, some doesn’t… It’s like flipping a coin and calling ““edge””… Have not been able to determine a direct cause for any of it… I think it reacts to how you look at it… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
It might be getting to much water in that area or the soil might not be draining fast enough. Mine does the same as the others stated however it’s also on it’s own. I don’t water it I don’t do anything with it other than cut it for seasoning on occasion. Love the stuff on fresh fish!
Ok here is what the thyme doctor has to say!
Pruning encourages thyme to constantly branch and put on new foliage, which keeps it compact and green. Pinch or trim back the stems at least once a month during the summer growing season. Failure to prune back may result in the stems turning woody near their base at the center of the plants, which causes them to turn brown and stop producing foliage except for near the tips. If you cut back thyme severely, avoid pruning it back by more than half its height and do not cut into the woody stem bases; otherwise it won’t produce new tender green shoots.
Although thyme is a perennial, it may last only three or four years before it naturally begins to turn brown in the center. As thyme grows, the base of the stems turns brown and woody. It produces new green growth only on the tender portions of the stem tips, so the center may develop sparse foliage and appear dead. Replacing the old plants with new ones every three years, or as needed, is the best way to avoid brown, leggy thyme.
I have some on a hillside, and its been growing fine for years. Another hillside further up the line it died off within its first year. But the Thyme on the other side of the track, in that area, grew like a weed for a few years before dying off. And the Thyme I had under my big weed, grew fine for years and then just died. Thyme is an odd little plant.
Well it just does that. As most above have said. That said, here in MD I have had best luck not with the traditional plants an inch or two tall, but with elfin thyme, which is very low, lawn like and thrives without that irritating center die off
Jerry
jerry bohlander said:
Well it just does that. As most above have said. That said, here in MD I have had best luck not with the traditional plants an inch or two tall, but with elfin thyme, which is very low, lawn like and thrives without that irritating center die off
Jerry
Agreed that the elfin thyme doesn’t seem to have the die off, except where it creeps over rocks and will die in the aeriola where it turns woody.
Our groundcover is varied and included over a dozen types of thyme, though many have gone by the wayside. One type has hybridized on-site to form a new variety, creeping elfin thyme. With foliage like elfin thyme, it grows out like “dreadlocks” until these “locks” take root and spread as a mat. It takes full sun and tolerates the heat better than any other variety of thyme on the railroad. I call this hybrid Thymus rasta jamaciia.
Thanks guys. Looks like I’m screwed here. Paid a lot for that stuff. Will just grab that crappy yellow flowered little sedum that keeps invading everywhere anyway and put it in there and give up on the other stuff. Be less maintenance that way and I can use that at my age.
Elfin Thyme does not do well up this way. I think winters are too much. My Creeping Thyme is doing well but I have a feeling it will eventually have the same fate as everyone else. I found the best are the sedums. Especially a sedum mix. Not sure what varieties I have but they look great together especially when they flower. Phlox is another great ground cover.
Depends on the species. Some of mine dies off on the center as it spreads. Other ones are as green as could be. Do I remember which ones they are? Heck no. The tag disappeared years ago. :-).
I’ve taken to researching the heck out of stuff before I plant it, no matter what my friends tell me.
I learned from the house landscaping, many people in my tract put in the wrong stuff, looked great at install, 3 years overgrown and had to be re-done. Many people were not told anything by the landscaper on how fast it would grow, or that it had a limited lifespan.
Greg
