i never thought of thyme as long lived ... so thats part of it.. perennial doesnt mean forever ...

some winter are worse than others ... and somewhat cyclical ... that every ten year snow ... or severe cold.. etc ...

for me.. in my MI .... constant snow cover is better than constant exposure to winter sun and wind ... snow can actually be an insulator ... to those two variables ...

and .. well... a garden is a collection of plants that you have found will grow in your little micro world ... you cant grow everything just because you want to.. no matter how much research you do ... it just comes down to .. they hate you .. lol ...

some define a green thumb .. as having killed every single plant 3 times ... and then succeeding ... [or giving up] .... its called gardening ... its like vegas.. there are no sure bets ...

and finally.. ma nature is a *itch ... often you just have to fall back to she hates you.. and isnt going to let you win on certain things ... lol

ken

Are you sure the thyme is dead? Mine typically looks like that but then wee green shoots start appearing. The entire section of brown may not come back but parts of it could.

...no matter how much research you do ... it just comes down to .. they hate you ..

Omg, Ken, too freaking funny. But sadly, true, I think.....

:)

Dee

The thyme has a few spots where still alive but I don’t see any sign of green under the brown. The past 2 years it stayed evergreen and never turned brown like that. If snow cover really helps then this year should’ve been the best year for plants because we had the most snow in 3 years. 2019 and 2020 barely had any snow and tons of winter rain and they were fine then but not this year when we had so much snow.

I don’t know, they did so well the first couple years so not sure if they’re not compatible with our environment or anything. They seemed to show lots of ‘love’ the first couple years and then suddenly goodbye? I don’t understand...

Heruga, I have a lot of thyme and I've cut back a few already and have some green growth under the brown, which I always have every spring. I tried a lot of different varieties and just couldn't keep a creeping, low growing thyme alive. I finally got a golden thyme that gets at least 6 inches tall, and that has been very reliable for years now. And doesn't seem to care where I plant it. I did add wooly thyme again for about the fourth time, last year for some reason and I see it is coming back. I have clay soil which they don't enjoy and I have made a few berms because my lot is level and in one area under the berm I put a good layer of gravel about a foot down, so I could try to grow plants that want that drainage. That has worked very well for me.

I find I have a dead rose this spring. First time I ever had that happen. Very surprised, I have four others that made it through the winter. And I always choose cold hardy plants. I haven't called the company that sold it to me yet. I thought I'd ask to see if they had an explanation. I'm thinking I might put a big tomato plant in it's place in a pretty cage instead. [g]

I have been comparing the plants this spring to those last spring and last year was one of my best years. We didn't have much snow, so I was surprised I didn't lose more. We got a ton of rain in the spring and everything looked lush. This year we had a lot more snow over the winter, but a very dry spring so far. A lot of things are coming up but not with the kind of vigor they had last spring. So I think overall level of consistent moisture is the only thing I can point to. We had some very cold days last winter and a lot of wind, but we also had a lot of snow cover which I thought would help. It's a mystery.

I have never been able to keep Patrinia past the first winter when it flowers the following season. Always dies. I also lose several "fully" hardy Agastache foeniculum cultivars I have, but never the fussier western ones.

Why do plants die? Nobody knows.

Why do people or animals die suddenly? I would imagine some of the same reasons as plants :)