The Thyme Handbook (Paperback)

The Thyme Handbook is for gardeners and nurserymen who love growing thyme and includes cultivars and species readily available in the nursery trade in the UK. It is a collaboration between two National Plant Collection holders Susie White (author of Thyme in the Garden (1994) and currently holder of Origanum )and Margaret Easter, who has undertaken many years of research, including DNA analysis, resulting in name changes for cultivars. Margaret has been gardening since the age of five and runs a back garden nursery LW Plants (www.thymus.co.uk) where she gardens organically and plants for year round interest. The garden and nursery have also been peat-free for the last few years. Margaret was granted National Plant Collection status by Plant Heritage (www.plantheritage.com) in 1995 and Scientific Status in 2004. (Kevin White also holds a National Collection of Thymus at Chesters Walled Garden in Northumberland.) Margaret has collected thyme from many sites in England, Wales France and Austria to form the basis of her studies into wild thyme and in 2006 was invited to Beijing to the Chinese Academy of Forestry as an advisor for their Thymus project. During that visit she made a field trip to Shui Mu Gong the forest park near Zhang Jia Kou. Margaret was appointed International Cultivation Registration Authority (ICRA) in 2007 provisional until publication of the Cultivar Register and Check List due late 2009.