Speaking of citrus, and I know I'm not on the correct thread, I would love to have a dwarf lemon tree growing in the sun in my kitchen. YUM!

Okay, so the citrus idea is out the window......
How about some winter spices?
What's the first one to come to your mind?
I think pumpkin pie spice. Exactly what is it? Let's see, the ingredients are: cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, allspice.... In case you would love to have a quick fix on hand, here are the measurements:

2 parts ground nutmeg
1 part ground cloves
1 part ground ginger
1 part ground allspice
1 part ground cinnamon
Personally, I would add more cinnamon, but that's to my liking. Have fun!

I can't resist thyme; every year I collect more ( whether they make it through winter is another matter )
My favorites are lemon thyme, rose petal thyme and lavender thyme. They smell wonderful! Each spring I buy a new pot of Broadleaf thyme ( native to zone 11+) lovely flavor to cook with.

Ooh, there is a lavender thyme? Have to look for that one, thank you.

Any idea of hardiness of thymes?

French thyme/English thyme, both listed as thymus vulgaris are the hardiest I know of, rated to zone 4. Both are listed and available at White Flower Farms.

It starts easily from seed, as well. I started English thyme and German winter thyme (which I think might actually be the same thing) last year.

Okay but could grow the others in containers and bring them in for the winter.
Will look for seeds!

I love the fragrance of some of the various scented thyme, but I usually only grow common thyme and lemon thyme. Maybe my palette is not that refined to be able to distinguish.........

I don't really have a favorite, but that rose petal thyme sounds good!

Lovemyhouse: yes, lavender thyme smells heavenly! I bought mine from Richter in Canada however I've heard Nature's herb garden in San Antonio Texas sells it as well as many other wonderful herbs!

I will go look. Thank you, Mary.

Is there a reason you wouldn't post looking for a trade of seeds of these types with someone in the seed section? I'm sure people in this forum have some of these types they'd be willing to trade out for something else in seed from you. Try there.

For me, I want plants. My house is where all non-Daylily seeds go to disappear into the ether.

Winter Thyme?


No, Golden lemon thyme! For some reason it survives in its pot winter after winter ( 5 winters so far) in my zone 5b garden. Although Truthfully, there are many micro climates in my garden and the container is sheltered by the garage wall. Still, fun to see it in the snow!

I'm impressed, Mary! I haven't even been able to get golden lemon thyme to overwinter in my coldframe. That's awesome

Mom2goldens; The golden thyme in the container is definitely a fluke, in other parts of the garden ( planted in the ground) I've had it die after one winter!