In May:

the issue is what kind of mat it is ....

is it dead in the middle... or did it just lose its old leaves... and its all connected to the green tips ...???

i wouldnt go digging up the center .. if there are no roots out at the edge???

no evergreen plant.. holds its leaves forever ... and apparently this one had shed last years leaves ....

can you go make some further observations???? and report back ...????

it reminds me a lot of what creeping phlox does ... after bloom ...

its been decades since i grew the stuff.. so im not recalling specifics ...

ken

Ditto Ken’s advice about not digging out the center. How long has your plant been in the ground? Have the remaining stems rooted? Did you shear the top after it bloomed?

I’ve had a meandering patch going for probably ten years. Some years there are brown patches and they’ve always occurred after blooming. I’ve never been comfortable trimming out the dead stuff because the stems are so intertwined (and some stems only have foliage at the ends) that it’s hard to figure out what’s really dead.

I’ve had good luck if I shear the dead blooms and the very top layer of the underlying foliage every year after the bloom dies.

If the outer stems on your plant have rooted, you should be ok. It’s possible that rooted sections in the dead area will produce new growth, but I’ve actually only had that happen with a bushy thyme that also behaves like a groundcover thyme.

This is its fifth summer. I started with 3 tiny winter-sown plants. It is currently still in bloom, I will shear when they fade. Even though it looks a fright, the bees love it :)

I have extensive areas of several different kinds of creeping thyme throughout my gardens. The dying in areas happens randomly, but seems worse with the grey Thyme, which I think is T. lanuginosus. I just ignore it all and it always recovers at some point.

Thank you, Lacey - that is encouraging!