THYMUS capitatus (=Thymbra capitata)

Pretty small evergreen perennial plant, with a typical shrubby and compact habit. Native to the Mediterranean basin where it is easy to be spotted on arid and sunny cliffs a few meters from the sea. It grows mainly horizontally and very slowly until it grows about 30 cm tall after many years, but it lies down and widens horizontally much more. Strongly branched from the base, it has quadrangular woody stems and whitish bark at the bottom and herbaceous and greyish branches at the top, due to the presence of a fine down. The strongly aromatic leaves are small and opposite, lanceolate and grey-green. The flowering of this plant is observed between spring and early summer: the small and tubular flowers are white or pink and appear gathered in ovoid inflorescences at the apex of the branches of the year.

Very rustic and easy to grow plant, it prefers sunny and bright positions: in shady positions it tends to collapse until death. It needs calcareous, poor, stony, dry and well-drained soils. It tolerates drought and saltiness of sea winds so it is ideal for the construction of green coastal areas. It tolerates frost even if intense and prolonged, especially if associated with poor air humidity and soil sealing conditions. At the end of flowering, a light pruning can be carried out which will consist in the removal of the dry and damaged parts and in the shortening of the vegetative apexes, in order to stimulate both the thickening and the orderly growth of the plant: you must never prune the parts at height. woody and old from which there is no possibility of vegetative regrowth. It is good for pots or containers, taking care of the right location and an adequate degree of soil humidity; in the ground it can be used with other herbs or, exploiting it with a large and robust root system, in rock gardens or slopes. It is also possible to line it up to create informal and original low borders or in groups to cover the ground at the base of tall shrubs having the same cultural characteristics.