A sad thyme

interalia

Label's gone walkabout but I'm pretty sure this is 'Silver Queen'. Planted 2 years ago and as you can see, it's gone very sad indeed. My fault, as I know I should have given it some attention and chopped it back, but it was so bushy and beautiful last year that (a) I didn't have the heart and (b) didn't realise it would look so horrible just a few months later.

If I cut it back (really hard?) would it shoot again and revive? If so, is this a good time or not? Or is it beyond redemption, such that I should just replace it?

The other thing about it was that although its attraction was the pretty, variegated foliage, I was expecting it to flower profusely last year (and hoping it would for the bees, who I thought would love it), having settled in for a year and grown so well. But it never did -- just one solitary flower spike, and I wondered why that might be.

pansyface

Thyme isn’t a very long-lived plant.

I’d take lots of cuttings (this is the perfect time of year) so that you have lots of new plants coming along.

Pete.8

As pansyface says, you could try some cuttings in very gritty compost, then give it a severe chop and see what happens over a couple of months.

I have several varieties and the 2 that I really love are Porlock Thyme-

It's in full flower at the moment. When flowering has finished I give it a good trim.

The other is Thyme Jekka is a creeping variety that also does well and needs only a light trim in the summer. It spreads widely but doesn't get to more than 2-3"

interalia

Thank you both so much, and I'll try as you suggest.
(Love the look of the Porlock thyme, by the way - thanks for posting a pic.)