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Has anyone grown a Creeping Thyme or Chamomile Lawn?

robin 435robin 435 Posts: 54
in Plants
I have a small area of lawn that I was considering replacing with Creeping Thyme or Chamomile, and just wondered if anyone on the forum has tried the same?

I've searched the internet and it seems that Creeping Thyme is often recommended as a lawn replacement, needing little maintenance and watering, no mowing, and producing a dense cover of flowers in the spring and summer.

However I then stumbled across an article saying that they can be problematic, with individual plants often dying and needing to be replaced.

So if anyone has tried this themselves, or has any advice, please let me know...

Thanks for looking :-)
 

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Hi Robin
    I have creeping thyme Jekka around my wildlife pond.
    I planted a few bits in June from an established plant and already it's covered the area and swamping out a couple of other plants I have there.
    It roots as it creeps along, so I'm not sure about individual plants dying off - doesn't make sense to me.
    It stays about 1" high and is smothered in flowers early summer - suits my purpose extremely well



    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Thyme can die off if the conditions simply aren't right, if it's too cold and wet for instance,  so as long as you can provide the right conditions, there's no reason why you can't cover a reasonable sized  area successfully with it.
    They tend not to last brilliantly here because of general conditions, but a well drained site, with plenty of sun will be perfect. You can walk across it without damaging the plants too  :)
    If one or two die, the others should gradually grow across and into the gaps [as Pete indicates] or failing that, they can easily be replaced. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • robin 435robin 435 Posts: 54
    Thanks for your replies, I've already ordered some seed to have some plants ready for the spring!

    I could only find seeds for the purple variety, nobody seems to have seeds in stock for the white or red creeping thyme, but I guess that will change early next year.

    Have a good day  :)  
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