Lemon thyme
Thymus x citriodorus · Lamiaceae
A small, bushy thyme with a clean lemon scent. The leaves are green, or edged in gold or silver in the variegated forms.
- Size
- 10 in tall, 16 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Mid June to mid July
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Edging
A bed built around lemon thyme
The planner designed this bed around lemon thyme when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why lemon thyme stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Lemon thyme × 4, pink
- 2 Seaside daisy × 11, lavender
- 3 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 3, tan
- 4 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Sunset hyssop × 3, orange
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 4, purple
- 8 Red spider lily × 8, red
Why this plant
- The only dense clusters. The others are daisies, spires, globes and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only pink.
Why here
- On the front edge. At 10 in it frames the bed without hiding it, and it is in leaf all season. It finishes 41% of the edge.
- 4 plants in 2 runs (3 and 1). Runs of different lengths make the edge a frame, not a ruled line.
- Fine leaf against bold. Silver sage is beside it: the strongest contrast of leaf there is.
Why now
- In flower for five weeks. From mid June to mid July.
- Part of the bed's peak. With seaside daisy, false sunflower 'Summer Nights' and sunset hyssop in mid July: 4 kinds at once. No week has more.
- One of two evergreens. They are what the bed has to show from November to March.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 5 groups (80%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The back corners are held by false sunflower 'Summer Nights' and little bluestem 'The Blues', the tallest plants on the plan. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 53% of the visual weight and the right half 47%.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 5 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where lemon thyme goes in a border
At 10 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is low (6 to 12 in).
Its job: edging. A low, neat plant used in short runs of three or five along the front to finish the edge (or, in a formal bed, in one even row).
The best thyme for the kitchen after the common one, and a neat, low edging for a herb bed. Trim it after flowering to keep it dense.
- Herb garden edging
- Cooking
- Containers
What to plant with lemon thyme
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Culinary sage: in flower together for four weeks, from mid June; spires rising out of its mound; tall enough (24 in) to stand behind it.
- Chives.
- English lavender 'Hidcote': in flower together for four weeks, from late June; spires rising out of its mound; tall enough (18 in) to stand behind it.
Questions about lemon thyme
Does lemon thyme need sun or shade?
Lemon thyme grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does lemon thyme grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 9. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does lemon thyme flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid June to mid July. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 5 | Mid June to mid July |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Mid June to mid July |
| Zone 7 | Early June to early July |
| Zone 8 | Early June to early July |
| Zone 9 | Late May to late June |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should lemon thyme be planted?
14 in (35 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 16 in (40 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 10 in (25 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many lemon thyme plants do I need?
At 14 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 9 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 9 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 28 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as runs of three or five along the front (or one even row, in a formal bed).
In the bed above, the planner used four in two groups.
Is lemon thyme poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat lemon thyme?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer and rabbits. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
What flowers after lemon thyme?
Lemon thyme is over by mid July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Lilyturf: from early August to mid September, 16 in tall.
- Black-eyed Susan: from mid July to mid September, 24 in tall.
- Ornamental onion 'Millenium': from mid July to late August, 18 in tall.
What does lemon thyme look like in winter?
Lemon thyme keeps its green and variegated leaves all winter, so it is one of the plants that hold a bed together from November to March, when the perennials have gone.
Is lemon thyme good for bees and butterflies?
Lemon thyme is visited by bees and butterflies.
More Thymus
- Common thyme Thymus vulgaris
- Creeping thyme Thymus serpyllum
- Red creeping thyme Thymus praecox 'Coccineus'
- Woolly thyme Thymus pseudolanuginosus
In these guides
- Plants you can walk on
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Rabbit-resistant plants
- Drought-tolerant perennials for full sun
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Evergreen perennials, ferns and grasses
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 10 in (25 cm) tall, 16 in (40 cm) wide
- Plant
- 14 in (35 cm) apart
- Height class
- Low (6 to 12 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Mid June to mid July; dense clusters; pink, lavender
- Leaves
- Fine texture, evergreen; green, variegated
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- Comes from
- Europe
- Attracts
- Bees, butterflies
- Stands up to
- Deer, rabbits, drought, poor soil, foot traffic
Checked against NC State Extension. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.