![]() It’s perfect for evergreen growth in warm, sunny climates. What if you are struggling to find a suitable ground cover plant for a Florida landscape? The answer is to plant red creeping thyme. You can also admire it cascading over the edges of pots, hanging baskets, and retaining walls. In that case, red creeping thyme is great for growing in planters. Suppose you want to add vibrant magenta-reddish colors to a patio or container garden. It also performs well in rock gardens, where its sprawling, colorful stems spread over other rocks and help suppress weeds. Its woody stems withstand foot traffic, making it ideal for filling gaps between stepping stones. Red creeping thyme is an extremely versatile shrub in a garden landscape. This feature is ideal for borders, edging, or adding color to front-of-house plantings. The creeping, horizontal leafy stems rapidly spread out over the ground, creating a colorful cushion of deep pink-red flowers and dark-green foliage. The low-growth habit of red creeping thyme makes it ideal for summer-flowering ground cover. The small thyme leaves densely cover aromatic, woody stems which grow up to 12” (30 cm) long. They give off an oregano-like aroma when crushed underfoot. The tiny aromatic leaves grow 0.25” (6 mm) long. Red Creeping Thyme Leavesįoliage on red creeping thyme ground cover shrubs consists of fragrant, dark-green ovate leaves with a glossy texture. In addition, nectar-rich red creeping thyme flowers attract pollinators like bees and butterflies. The showy flowers grow en masse on red creeping thyme, transforming landscapes into a colorful sea of deep reddish-pink flowers. The flowers bloom from June through September. The flowers on red creeping thyme shrubs are a deep pink-magenta color and have a tubular or bell shape. Red Creeping Thyme FlowersĬlose up picture of red creeping thyme flowers It is relatively tolerant of drought, but you should water it every 10 to 14 days during summer, but daily during the hottest sunny days. To care for red creeping thyme, grow the herbaceous plant in full sun and well-draining, moderately fertile soil. As a semi-evergreen ground cover plant, it typically retains most of its leaves in cold weather. However, in colder climates, it grows as a perennial - meaning it dies back to the ground and returns in early spring. This means the carpet-forming shrub retains its foliage in mild-winter areas. Red creeping thyme is classed as an herbaceous evergreen perennial shrub. This blooming ground cover plant is not to be confused with the similar creeping thyme species Thymus serpyllum. The fast-growing, mat-forming colorful shrub is also called wild thyme. Red creeping thyme is a cultivar of low-growing plants and small shrubs in the genus Thymus and mint family Lamiaceae. Also called “mother of thyme,” the colorful ground-hugging shrub grows 3” (7.5 cm) tall, 12” (30 cm) wide, thrives in full sun, and tolerates drought and poor soils. Red creeping thyme is a perennial herbaceous plant with small dark-pink or magenta-red flowers, dark-green aromatic leaves, and woody stems. Red creeping thyme (Thymus praecox ‘Coccineus’) What is Red Creeping Thyme ( Thymus praecox ‘Coccineus’)? As well as pictures and descriptions of the red-flowering ground cover plant, you will get handy tips on propagating, planting, and growing red creeping thyme in your garden landscape. This article is an identification and growing guide for the popular red creeping thyme shrub. Its trailing flowering aromatic stems also work well in containers or hanging baskets. In addition to being ideal for full-sun ground cover, you can plant it as a border plant or edging to add color and texture to foundation plantings or as a lawn alternative. ![]() Red creeping thyme has several uses in a garden landscape. ![]() In addition to its visual appeal, the small dark-green leaves are exceedingly fragrant and give off a herby aroma. The horizontally spreading stems root in the soil and are covered with densely growing dark green leaves and dark pink-reddish flowers. The beauty of red creeping thyme is that it is low maintenance and requires little effort to grow. And when red creeping thyme blooms in summer, it transforms gardens with a carpet of dark pink, magenta, and deep reddish hues. Creeping thyme, with its semi-evergreen foliage, is an excellent mat-forming landscaping shrub. Red creeping thyme is a colorful, herbaceous ground cover shrub with spectacular deep pink-red tubular flowers. Email Pinterest Facebook Twitter Linkedin
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