Silver Queen Lemon Thyme Plants

Thymus x citriodorus Silver Queen

Silver Queen is one of the most elegant thymes with its silvery-grey leaf edged in cream, as if embroidered, and then in summer it is enveloped by small white flowers, like tiny snow flakes. The effect is enchanting. As with all thymes it prefers a mean, thin soil to really taste at its best, and it does need to be planted in full sun which encourages the aromatic oils to come to the surface of the leaf to give it a better flavour. A great thyme from our range of UK grown herbs.

As well as Silver Queen Lemon thyme there is also a Golden Queen version so that no matter how your colour ways are directed, one will fit somewhere in your garden. You just must not miss out on the dual hit of lemon zing and aromatic thyme in one little herb.

A Canteen of Silver Queen

The variegated leaves of Silver Queen contrast well with the dark green of Common Thyme, and ideally you should grow them both because their flavours are so different and they do set each other off so well. The white flowers of Silver Queen are rarer than the more common purple, mauves and pinks of most herbs, so it gives brightness and light accents to the various greens of other herbs like tarragon, chives or parsley that you might also be growing in your herb patch. But remember that if grown in a good rich soil thymes, counterintuitively, lose all flavour, so plant it away from plants that require richer conditions.

Thymes make good ground cover, and if you search out some of the creeping varieties as well, with a little weeding, and the odd chamomile plant, along with some Golden Queen thyme you can make a passable and very pretty lawn in an area that does not receive too much pedestrian traffic. Thymes grow well in pots but use a peat, grit and bark mix that is not too high in nutrients and keep watering to a minimum. Lemon thyme can be picked all year round. Add some stems to light olive oils or white wine vinegars to capture its essential herbiness. Use lemon thyme with fish and in salad dressings, but it is also particularly good scattered over a light, creamy goats cheese with a little rapeseed oil drizzle or make a herb butter and serve it with poached trout or salmon.

Features

• Height: 30 cm
• Spread: 20 cm
• Colour: variegated silver, cream and grey
• Flowers: pink
• Uses: culinary, medicinal
• Taste: lemon scented
• Harvest: all year
• Storage: can be dried
• Spacing: 20 cm
• Life: hardy perennial

Did You Know?

Thyme has strong antiseptic properties, and if used as a tea can help with hangovers as well. Useful! As an oil it is often incorporated into toothpaste, mouthwash and gargles.

Thyme is rarely attacked by pests or diseases but if it does happen, the chances are it is because it has been overfed and watered leading to sappy young growth that aphids love. Trim the plants after flowering to encourage more foliage and to stop the plant becoming woody. If in pots only feed once a year in spring and do not overwater, especially in winter.