THYME

I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows

quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine..

(Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Thyme is one of the staple herbs grown and experimented with for millennia, used medicinally , in magic spells, in cosmetics and as a culinary herb.

Lovers have rolled on it; soldiers in ancient times grilled their meat over it, the Egyptians used it to preserve their dead. Alexander the Great may have used it to get rid of nits while on campaign. Cats like to squat by it, opera singers gargle with it, medieval aristrocrats sniffed it to ward off the plague.

I have a variety of thyme, my favourite being the tender grey orange scented thyme which I am over wintering in the greenhouse, last year it survived well so just hope it will do so this year.

In the middle ages it was believed that sleeping on a pillow of thyme would prevent melancholy or inspire knights to be courageous. There is an old tale of a cowardly knight who slept on a bank of thyme and when he woke he was ready to do battle again.

According to the language of flowers Thyme represents Strength and courage, activity.