PlantFiles: Woolly Thyme
Thymus pseudolanuginosus

Good ground cover for poor dry soil, sun. Looks sweet spilling over patios and walls. Grows moderately fast.

This is my first year planting thyme in general, which included wooly, elfin, lemon, lime, pink chintz and I think a couple of others. The wooly is the most hardy so far from what I can tell. The elfin comes in second. I planted these to grow some ground cover after I dug out the entire front yard of weeds.
I have many more to plant, but I am very happy with the results. I adore the scents I get and the lovely look to the plant. I have planted it from full sun to partial shade doing well in all of these. I did lose some when I first planted them, but I figured as a beginner gardener I did alright for myself. I am sated with my decision to plant them so far.

I fell in love with these at the nursery. We planted them on the top of a sloped area, mostly shady. A few days later we got a 3" rainstorm, and now it looks like it is dead. I'm waiting a while longer t see if it recovers. But if you can't plant it high on the hill, where it can't drown, how could it?

I planted woolly thyme in a trough. It overwintered outside very well in my Z5 garden without any protection. It did have a little die back though. So soft and fuzzy.

This is a great spreading groundcover, but I've had mine in for about four years and it's never bloomed. It's spread out to over 2' in diameter from a little tiny plant, though!

Great plant. Drought tolerant, fast spreader, nice pink flowers, easy to propogate by division of clumps, pleasant feel to the touch, can take moderate traffic.

Great for inbetween rocks, flagstones, etc. A good option to replace a lawn area. You can remove the lawn, position several large rocks and allow the wholly thyme to cover the entire surface area and waterfall over the rocks.

This is the nicest feeling plant to pet. It spreads well and is easy to take starts of. In the winter it gets a purplish tint.

I added this little fellow to one of my raised bed, situating it on the edge of the rocked border. It has climbed over the rock to bask in the sun and appears quite happy. I mulch this bed with straw, then cover with plastic after the first freeze, and my woolly thyme has returned for the last four seasons.

Wonderful plant...as a landscaper, have used this plant as a filler, groundcover and has done really well on greenroofs as well.

I planted a large amount of wooly thyme last year and it survived well through one of the harshest winters I've ever seen in Reno. It is coming back with vigor except for one spot where there has been abused by lots of foot traffic. It also tolerates two dogs who have decided to make it their bathroom though I wish they would stop.

I've loved this plant for over 50 years! I have lost it over the winter many times in my mother's 5b garden in Connecticut, but it has withstood the past three very harsh winters in my zone 4b rock garden on an exposed mountain slope in the Catskill mountains. It does not bloom for me, but flowers are sort of beside the point. The small woolly fragrant leaves are enough for me!

A hardy little plant. I started two tiny plugs three years ago in my raised bed. I knew when we finished putting in the stepping stones I would want some to plant between them. They gave me an abundance of plants to use and they are wonderful.

I planted a six-pack of small woolly thyme plants between flagstones about 3 months ago (April-ish) in Berkeley, CA. Full sun, not so great soil. They've spread to 5-6" each and have bloomed in pink, fat spikes of flowers. Once they became established, they haven't seemed to need much water. They also seem able to take a bit of abuse (hose dragging and trampling). We'll see how they do as we move to fall/winter, but so far, so good.

The classic heart-breaker. In areas with hot, humid summer plant typically rots quickly. Light afternoon shade helps. Planting on slope also helps. Planting beneath or above stepping stones also helps. Continual layering also helps: every 2-3 inches peg a stem to the ground to enable it to form its own roots. Plant seems to do better with many rootlets.