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mtnrdredux_gw

Herb help! need an ID

5 years ago

I am caramelizing my onions and supposed to add one of these: rosemary, thyme, oregano


I know I dont have rosemary or oregano in my garden.


Is this a type of thyme? or tarragon?



Comments (21)

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I think thyme, but your nose knows. ETA I have only ever seen yellow flowers on tarragon, and thyme is generally pink and purple.

    mtnrdredux_gw thanked localeater
  • 5 years ago

    Do you have lavender? That’s what it looks like to me, but I’m not positive.

    mtnrdredux_gw thanked Jilly
  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I hope it is thyme, but the leaves are so delicate like tarragon (but yes I think of tarragon as having a yellow fllower)


    Whatever it is, its caramelizing with the onions now. I will remove it when they are done.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Thyme has round leaves, albeit small. That is absolutely not thyme. Tarragon has narrow leaves but with the flower, my guess is lavender. Tarragon flowers I think are white or yellow. That's lavender. It has a resinous flavor somewhat like rosemary. I guess it could possibly be rosemary too, which has blue or white flowers. I can't grow it very well in my zone so have never seen it in flower.

    To me, it looks exactly like lavender.

    mtnrdredux_gw thanked l pinkmountain
  • 5 years ago

    Yeah, it does look like lavender, but I know I didn't have them plant that. I did ask for tarragon and thyme. Maybe there was a mistake. Whatever it is, it is delicate. Oh well!

  • 5 years ago

    It’s thyme, i have grown a variety in my aerogarden that has those exact flowers. Other varieties have pink or white flowers. Here is a close up of a very full flowering thyme plant:


    Yours, Mt, n just isn’t this big or full.

    mtnrdredux_gw thanked User
  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Kswl - are you not seeing the leaves? They're much more like lavender than thyme, so is that long, long stem. Rosemary flowers do not look like that. they grow amongst the leaves, not on the end of a long stem.


    Rosemary flowers:




    Lavender flowers:




    P.S. You can cook with lavender, it's in the same family as rosemary and the rest. It's also

    in Herbs de Provence.

    mtnrdredux_gw thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I'm going to assume I somehow got a lavender plant. Plus, it sounds fancier!

    For your dining pleasure, the chef has prepared a caramelized Vidalia galette with garden lavender.

    Here s a recipe pairing the twohttp://www.veggiebelly.com/2009/07/lavender-roasted-onions.html

  • 5 years ago

    Carol, i don’t think it is rosemary. it definitely looks like the thyme i have grown in my aerogarden. However, the smell of the crushed leaves should be the definitive test. There are many varieties of thyme available, and my stems were also the same grayish green. i may be wrong but I always thought lavender plants grew to a certain height before they flower, a height at which they would be unlikely to be mistaken for thyme. Or perhaps that is a dwarf varierty?

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I've never seen thyme with long narrow leaves like that; they are rounder and clustered. I would have guessed tarragon by the leaves, but the flower is the wrong color. I think the lavender guess is probably it, tho I don't think of lavender as being mild.

  • 5 years ago

    Both the leaves and flowers of Kwsl's photo do not look anything like Mtn's so I'm not sure where anyone is getting thyme. There is narrow leaved french thyme, but if I'm not mistaken, the flowers on french thyme are not a vibrant lavender, more leaning towards looking almost white or grey from a distance. Plus they are not born up on a long stem, but along the stem adjacent to leaves. And at its most narrow, thyme still has an oval shape on the leaf tips, not a lance shape. However, there is variability in plants. So it could possibly be a french thyme with a really really outlying leaf form and flower. More up close photos of flower and leave and plant form would be needed to be sure.

  • 5 years ago

    This is the plant in situ, immediately below. I now think lavender, but i must say it is a very mild lavender. I don't usually care for the smell of lavender, which is why it was not on my herb plant list. Somehow it snuck in there. I don't always recognize herbs when they bloom, so I wasn't sure what this was.



    Looks like this to me:



  • 5 years ago

    There are different varieties of lavender. Yours looks like a type of English lavender.

    mtnrdredux_gw thanked texanjana
  • 5 years ago

    Looks like lavender. I have so much of those three herbs (fresh) I wish I could give you.

    mtnrdredux_gw thanked Bunny
  • 5 years ago

    I really should have just put in at least one of every herb. I focussed on the ones we use most --- parsley, dill, mint, basil, cilantro, tarragon, chives. I think that's it. My cilantro always bolts so fast I shouldn't bother.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    There are a number of different varieties of lavender, thyme and rosemary too. They don't all look exactly the same.

  • 5 years ago

    What does it smell like? Both have very distinct aromas.

  • 5 years ago

    I was going to say that the smell should be a dead give away. They are very distinct.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    It's lavender. It's commonly grown here. We have several lavender farms in the rural areas of my city and they hold summer lavender festivals. I know lavender.

    Here's mine where the buds are just beginning to open.



  • 5 years ago

    I agree that it looks like lavender to me too.