Thyme or Oregano Lawn?

[PlainJane]

Has anyone installed a thyme or oregano lawn?

When we first moved into our house there was a large 5x4 ft patch of oregano that previous owners had let run wild.
I pulled it out to make way for the backyard orchard but it stuck in my mind.

DH built a low stone wall around the orchard area, and is working now on pathways. The backyard is a total mess of old sod, weeds, piles of stone, etc. I vaguely thought we would have new sod installed when all the stonework was done, but that’s a) expensive and b) can’t happen until all the stone is out of the way.

However ... if I put in creeping oregano and/or thyme, I can do it in stages and I can do it myself.
I see pictures on the web, of course, but would love to hear about someone’s real life experiences.

Here’s part of the area I’m dealing with.

06FA86D8-4408-49E5-A472-254F35AB6603.jpeg

[bower]

I never heard of creeping Oregano - the one that I know of is a couple feet tall, so you'd have to mow it all the time and I'm not sure how that would work. I have Mother of Thyme around my garden paths and that is nice. Smells good, don't have to mow, and bees love it when its in flower. It seems to stay out of the place you walk all the time, but will come right up to it. Other places you can walk across occasionally and no problem, although I never do that when it's full of bees There are a lot of varieties of creeping thyme, some may be even better - my friend has one that is really close to the ground and has soft leaves, no woody stems, kind of a sage green color. A lovely cover, there are probably 20 or more kinds to choose from. I think it's a great idea.

[Nan6b]

I've tried lawn of various types of small plants, (think "Steppables") and the problem I came up with was weeds: trying to weed your lawn so that it is made up of what you want it to be made up of. Just like a grass lawn will revert to dandelions. The thing I've seen that was successful is the same thing that's successful in unweeded lawns: clover. That short white clover is very dense and chokes out everything else. Maybe mother of thyme is dense enough to keep other things out.

[MissS]

I use creeping thyme in between the stones of my stepping stone path but not as a lawn. The stones were the nice flat ones that I see piled up in your picture and the gaps were filled in with the thyme. It worked very well and looked good too. As Nan has said, I think that if you used it as a lawn that you would have some difficulty weeding.

[brownrexx]

I also have never heard of creeping oregano but I do have creeping thyme which I really like. It is at the edge of a large flower bed and I just let it spread. I never have a problem with weeds but maybe once a year I rip out some of the thyme because it is spreading too far. It smells nice, attracts bees and I really like it.

[PlainJane]

26E4FF45-639E-4A9F-A2E2-13449DFCE5E6.jpeg

This is one of the oreganos I’m researching. It’s more robust than most of the thymes and theoretically stays under 4 inches.

C52AC498-E416-46AC-ABAD-5AD40D78B089.jpeg

[PlainJane]

CECB12F6-2419-4177-844D-29BAFB8DD3AD.jpeg

And here’s creeping golden oregano.

I found these from Mountain Valley Growers but will look for other sources too.

[PlainJane]

I also have never heard of creeping oregano but I do have creeping thyme which I really like. It is at the edge of a large flower bed and I just let it spread. I never have a problem with weeds but maybe once a year I rip out some of the thyme because it is spreading too far. It smells nice, attracts bees and I really like it.

Exactly what I want!

[PlainJane]

I've tried lawn of various types of small plants, (think "Steppables") and the problem I came up with was weeds: trying to weed your lawn so that it is made up of what you want it to be made up of. Just like a grass lawn will revert to dandelions. The thing I've seen that was successful is the same thing that's successful in unweeded lawns: clover. That short white clover is very dense and chokes out everything else. Maybe mother of thyme is dense enough to keep other things out.

Hmmm ... I didn’t think of clover. Will check it out.

[bower]

That creeping oregano is super cool! Oregano tends to put out a dense bundle of stems so it might be more weed-proof than the thyme. I do have a few things to pull from time to time. OTOH I also had some little dianthus come up among it, and that is super pretty. There are always weeds, I don't think there's anything you could hope for as a truly weed free lawn, unless it is a weeds lawn. My mom has been encouraging hawkweeds in part of her lawn. They just have a rosette of leaves on the ground and flowers on a long skinny stem. Which you can either cut easily or just enjoy.

[Growing Coastal]

I don't care for clover in the lawn anywhere near the tomatoes as the clover always gets PM in August when we start to get dew at night. Don't know if it is the same variety of PM that affects tomatoes, or not.
I have some regular golden oregano that has formed a thick mat that has crept out into the lawn. Thought I'd leave it and see how it goes. It does grow tall stems and will leave a prickly stubble when mown but no one goes barefoot there anyway.

[SpookyShoe]

Our back yard is St. Augustine and it takes a lot of wear and tear. Right now it is full of winter weeds which eventually will die out as the weather in spring warms up. St Augustine also does not grow well in the shade. So it is a less-than-ideal grass. I would imagine that oregano and thyme would have the same problems... weeds and not growing well in the shade. Also I would have to scrape out dog poop from two large dogs who use the backyard as their latrine.

[bower]

That is a good point about the clover. I sadly had to remove all the red clover growing near my greenhouse because the powdery mildew would blow in through the vents. Maybe some clover types are not susceptible? IDK for sure. I have a yellow one that doesn't grow near the greenhouse so I haven't noticed if it was bad. Forgetmenots are about the worst for mildew and keep me busy enough.
The type of thyme that my friend has would be the best for actually walking on in bare feet. I looked it up, it's called wooly thyme and they say it doesn't flower often at all, so you get a very tight ground cover that's a blue-green color.
https://www.drought-smart-plants.com/th ... nosus.html

[PlainJane]

Our back yard is St. Augustine and it takes a lot of wear and tear. Right now it is full of winter weeds which eventually will die out as the weather in spring warms up. St Augustine also does not grow well in the shade. So it is a less-than-ideal grass. I would imagine that oregano and thyme would have the same problems... weeds and not growing well in the shade. Also I would have to scrape out dog poop from two large dogs who use the backyard as their latrine.

Ah, I see your points Donna.
We don’t have dogs but do have cats. I was thinking of bisecting the area with a wide mulched pathway; that would keep some of the foot traffic off the plants. That would also give me a way to wheelbarrow stuff around.

The backyard is about 90% sunny, so shade is not a concern.

I will say one thing about the oregano I pulled out - it was a dense grower.

[PlainJane]

That is a good point about the clover. I sadly had to remove all the red clover growing near my greenhouse because the powdery mildew would blow in through the vents. Maybe some clover types are not susceptible? IDK for sure. I have a yellow one that doesn't grow near the greenhouse so I haven't noticed if it was bad. Forgetmenots are about the worst for mildew and keep me busy enough.
The type of thyme that my friend has would be the best for actually walking on in bare feet. I looked it up, it's called wooly thyme and they say it doesn't flower often at all, so you get a very tight ground cover that's a blue-green color.
https://www.drought-smart-plants.com/th ... nosus.html

Bower, this wooly thyme is one of the plants I’m considering! The growth habit is perfect.
The question is ... will it survive the humidity combined with the heat and 50 inches of rain.
I may have to try a small area and just see how it does.

[PlainJane]

I don't care for clover in the lawn anywhere near the tomatoes as the clover always gets PM in August when we start to get dew at night. Don't know if it is the same variety of PM that affects tomatoes, or not.
I have some regular golden oregano that has formed a thick mat that has crept out into the lawn. Thought I'd leave it and see how it goes. It does grow tall stems and will leave a prickly stubble when mown but no one goes barefoot there anyway.

Thanks for that feedback!

We don’t walk out there barefoot because at the moment there are stone chips everywhere.
How the cats react will be interesting.

[worth1]

Prostrate rosemary? ?

[GailC]

I have a few varieties of thyme in my flower beds, it spreads well and if it won't get mowed, is great for honey bees. It's one of the most bee active flowers in the yard.

[PlainJane]

Prostrate rosemary? ?

Maybe. But I’m looking for something that could be mowed once or twice a year on the highest setting.
Not sure prostrate rosemary would work but I’ll research further.

[PlainJane]

I have a few varieties of thyme in my flower beds, it spreads well and if it won't get mowed, is great for honey bees. It's one of the most bee active flowers in the yard.

Thyme is definitely my first choice. I used it around stepping stones in MA and loved it.
The problem in Florida is that we’re on the high end of thyme’s heat tolerance range, and summer is unrelentingly humid. Many other plants I’ve tried such as agastache, penstemons, some salvias, epilobium and gaura have made it through a season or 2 and then melted away.

- Joyce