Orange-Peel Thyme, Thymus richardii spp. nitidus

Thymus richardii spp. nitidus 
 Orange Peel Thyme

If you bury your face in a pot of this prostrate thyme your senses are assaulted by a fragrance of bitter oranges and pine, not a combination which endears it for use in the kitchen in a culinary foray, but more a scent one would expect to find in a men's cologne.

I grow this in a pot because the closely packed leaves and dense habit make it susceptible to fungal rot in late summer humid days. It perhaps needs to clamber through some rocks or across paving so as to avoid this habit of up and dieing for no apparent reason in a mild coastal climate. It also fails to flower for me so maybe needs a cold winter trigger to implement this though no matter as the it is worth growing for the unique scent alone.

 'What time the mighty moon

Was gathering light

Love placed the thymy plot

of Paradise'

Alfred Tennyson