Lemon thyme plants are one of those Mediterranean herbs with versatile use, from treating illnesses to giving food a lemon flavor. Interestingly, 🤔many people believe it is a hybrid between Thymus pulegioides and Thymus vulgaris.
But since then, it has received its own species named Thymus citriodorus.
Still, no matter all the drama related to renaming it, having it in your herb garden is one good thing. The herb has many uses and is also appealing in a garden design. It is an aromatic treasure.
In your rock garden, you can grow lemon thyme plants as a border plant.
Planting lemon thyme in a xeriscape will surely add a pop of color when flowering, but it depends on the cultivar you grow.
Plant Name: Thymus citroidorus
Other Name: Lemon thyme or Citrus thyme
Plant Type: Herb
Native Areas: Southern Europe
Light Requirement: Full sun
Watering: Drought-tolerant
Fertilizer: Organic compost
Toxicity: Non-toxic
Temperature: Warm regions
Propagation:
Growth: 6-12 inches tall and 12-18 inches wide
Soil Type: Well-draining soil
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5-8 annual and 7-9 perennial
More About Lemon Thyme Plants
For years the lemon thyme plants have attracted both herbalists and chefs to the aromatic leaves with the earthy citrus scent. The herb is native to the Mediterranean and mainly in Southern Europe. Still, it has been cultivated for centuries.
Today you find the plant with its woody stems grown as an ornamental plant in most gardens. While other gardeners add it to their herb gardens for its culinary uses, the plant has tiny leaves making for a fabulous addition to food dishes when growing herbs.
You can add it to your cooking process in soups, sautees, salads, or vegetable dishes dried or using fresh sprigs. The lemony taste adds savory notes to fish and meat, while the lemon-scented leaves are used in skincare products, perfumes, and cosmetics.
People also use it as an insect repellent or in essential oils.
Still, it is a shrubby herb with a rampant spreading habit and can be used to form a ground cover. The leaves form clusters in a light green shade with upward branching stems that become woody when mature. Compared to common thyme plants, the leaves do not have that bitter flavor.
Furthermore, it belongs to the mint family, and lemon thyme closely resembles the common thyme.
Lemon Thyme Cultivars
You can choose from separate species in the lemon thyme plants, but not all have culinary uses.
The Lemon Supreme is a vigorous grower with light mauve flowers and richer lemon aromatic leaves.
The Silver Edged Lemon Thyme has pink flowers with foliage with a silver edge.
The Creeping Golden Lemon, also known as the Golden Queen, has a lemon scent, but the leaves are a variegated gold with lavender flower spikes. It makes for a lovely addition to any rock garden with the Golden Lemon color.
The thyme plant Orange is a low-growing lemon thyme with a citrus scent.
Lastly, the Lime Thyme has a mounding growth that works well as a ground cover to fill the garden with a lemon scent. The vibrant chartreuse green leaves add a great citrus flavor to food. The plant has lavender-pink flowers.
Lemon Thyme Care
Whether you grow lemon thyme plants for their culinary, ornamental, or medicinal uses, please place them in a fixed spot in your herb garden or a container. When you plant lemon thyme, please provide them with little water, light, and warm weather.
You can enjoy the fresh lemony leaves from early spring until the first frost arrives. The best part is you can grow lemon thyme plants indoors. These plants thrive in hot and dry conditions thriving as an evergreen in zone 8.
Lemon Thyme Plants Needs Full Sun
For healthy plants, grow lemon thyme in full sun to enjoy the aromatic foliage and flowers. It is an easy plant to care for in a garden and remains a natural choice to add flavor to your food. If you cannot provide your lemon thyme with direct sunlight, you can grow them in containers on a window sill.
Well-Drained Soil
Lemon thyme plants thrive in dry, rocky, and sandy soil types that drains well and love the ground to be alkaline. The essential thing is not to allow the root ball to remain standing in stagnant water and to allow excess water to drain away from the roots to prevent root rot.
How to Water Lemon Thyme
A young plant will need deep watering at first until established. When you grow lemon thyme, they prefer drier conditions, and if you notice damp soil refrain from watering until it is completely dry. Hence, it needs minimal irrigation.
Temperature and Humidity
The lemon thyme reaches its peak performance during summer in dry weather. At the time, you will enjoy the plant flowers in a lilac color with the lemony essential oils released into the warm air.
During the cooler months, the lemon thyme goes dormant except when freezing temperatures occur and is treated as an annual.
Fertilizer
No matter what you grow in an herb garden, including lemon thyme, we do not recommend using fertilizers. Preferably add some organic matter to the soil when planting them. Fertilizers will lead to vigorous growth.
Pruning and Maintenance
After your Thymus citriodorus flowers fade, you can deadhead them to encourage new growth or prune them to shape the plant. Or you can leave the plant to grow as you please.
After a few years, you will notice that it grows woody stems, and you can divide them into sections to replant or prune them off for new growth but cut the branches close to the base.
Living in the USDA zones 4 to 6, you can layer some mulch at the start of winter to help protect roots from freezing temperatures.
Potting and Repotting
For container-grown lemon thyme plants having an ideal potting mix is essential.
Place three parts seed mix at the base.
Add two parts compost.
Follow it up with one part vermiculite and one part topsoil.
This potting mix will provide your herbs with draining, organics, moisture retention, texture, and moisture retention.
Lemon Thyme Plants Propagation
You can easily propagate thyme plants using cuttings or growing lemon thyme seeds.
Cuttings
1. Cut a stem section four inches long below a leaf node with sterile scissors.
2. Remove the bottom leaves and submerge them into a glass with distilled water.
3. Place the glass in a spot to receive a lot of light.
In a few weeks, you will notice new roots, and once it has a good root system, transplant it into a seed starting mix. Keep the soil moist and allow it to develop a stronger root system before planting them outside.
Growing Lemon Thyme From Seed
Lemon thyme grows from seed, but the process is very slow.
Prepare a seed starting tray with a seed starting mix and place up to three seeds in a cell.
Keep the soil moist and place a domed cover over the tray to help speed up the germination.
Place the trays on a window sill, heating mat, or under grow lights.
Once germination occurs, remove the dome and place a small fan next to the tray, allowing indirect air to flower over the seedlings the whole time.
The air will create more healthy seedlings with strong root systems.
When seedlings reach a height of three inches, plant lemon thyme seedlings into individual pots to mature.
For transplanting outdoors, harden off the seedlings and plant them after the first frost.
Managing Pests and Diseases
You can find minor issues when growing lemon thyme with bugs and diseases.
Insects
Aphids can potentially threaten lemon thyme plants as they suck out all foliage juice. Some signs of aphid infestations when growing lemon thyme are leaf 🍂 curling to disfiguration. You can spray the lemon thyme with a strong water spray and follow it with a spritz of water and alcoholic soap. You can use a cup of rubbing alcohol, 1/4 of water, and two teaspoons of dish soap mixed in a spray bottle.
Spider mites are also a concern and are spotted with fine webs on the stems. You can treat your lemon thyme plant in the same way as you do with aphids.
Disease
When it comes to lemon thyme diseases, you may find the following on your plants:
Botrytis rot
Alternaria blight
These normally bother your lemon thyme plant in humid to warm conditions. The best is to provide the plant’s roots with soil that drains well and avoids overwatering. Removing the infected foliage is best, and always disinfect the tools before you prune your plants. Also, increase the airflow and stake plants in an upright position.
Frequently Asked Questions
When harvesting lemon thyme, the best time to do this is in the morning. Harvesting lemon thyme at this time is excellent as the dew has dried off the foliage and prevents wilting of the leaves. You can harvest lemon thyme any time of the year as needed to add flavor to your food.
So, get a container garden started to have it available anytime. The method of harvesting is to snip a few inches down the stem above a node.
There are different ways you can preserve lemon thyme growing in your garden. To extend the fresh leaves’ shelf life, wrap clusters of the sprigs in a damp paper towel and place them in a zip-lock bag in the refrigerator. Hence, you will have a fresh flavor to add to meals during cooking.
You can bundle the fresh sprigs using rubber bands or twine and hang them from a nail on the wall in a warm dark spot. Leave the lemon thyme to hand for two weeks or use a paper bag. Once dry, you can run your fingers through the stem to remove the aromatic leaves.
Then store it in a mason jar or airtight container.
You can oven-dry the herb, quickly done in a few hours. Place the sprigs on a baking sheet between parchment paper to bake at 100 °F for about two hours. When the leaves are dry, leave them to cool in the pan and crumble them with your fingers. Then store them in an airtight container.
Dehydrating lemon thyme is a fast way to ensure you have dried herbs available. Place the sprigs in the food dehydrator tray and set it at 100 °F for two hours until the leaves are dry. Then strip and store the herb in bottles in the spice cabinet.
When you grow lemon thyme in the garden, these herb flowers attract pollinators like lacewings that, in turn, feast on aphids to whiteflies. The important thing is to provide them with full sun and well-drained soil.
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