Rooting thyme

General Gardening
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I have a lemon thyme plant. It overwintered in a container on our deck, and died back about 80%, probably due to 0 degree temps, in a container. About three weeks ago, I took a couple of the new shoots and buried them in the media to layer them within the container. They already had ¼ - ¾” long roots after two weeks, so I clipped off the three that rooted and put them in small cells to grow on a bit more until I can plant them, this time in the ground. Is it weird that layerings from a half-dead parent plant would root THAT easily?

I was concerned there wasn’t enough root on the cuttings, but they’ve all grown about two new sets of leaves in the week since I potted them individually…so I assume they’re going to be OK.

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Thyme is vigorous in my experience. My favorite species is sold in the trade as “Mother of Thyme”.

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What you are explaining is pretty normal for lemon thyme. They are vigorous as long as you take new cuttings every few years.

I have half a dozen varieties of thyme, each spring I normally trim off a few stems in spring and plant them in soil. I pull off the lower few leaves as they will rot under the soil. I get over 90% strike rate this way. You could try some more fancy methods, but this works well and is simple/free.