Battle of herbaceous proportions: Rosemary VS Thyme

who will win?

  • Rosemary for aesthetic reasons

  • Rosemary for culinary reasons

  • Thyme for aesthetic reasons

  • Thyme for culinary reasons


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It's Kev

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I've been Team Rosemary all my life, but decided to try out thyme, i like the aesthetics, but i'm not a big fan of the smell, maybe because its new and foreign to my senses
some of us like to eat our bonsai, some don't, so i wanna see your views from every possible aspect.
i bought one of each, and the sellers seem to have just jammed a bunch of seedlings into a pot, each team member is off to an appalling start, so let's see how they develop.
WeChat Image_20221023144911.jpg
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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When making garlic sauce, I use thyme and basil, yoghurt, mayo, sugar and heaps of garlic.
When making potatoes I use rosemary.

I like thyme because it's so tiny and I've found it in the wild a couple thymes.
I like rosemary because once it takes hold in a garden.. It gets hard to control and provides me with free herbs. Also the flowers are pretty cool.
 

Arnold

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Rosemary will make a thicker trunk faster, if the Thyme are several tiny plants together you have to separate them to encourage faster trunk development
 

It's Kev

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Rosemary will make a thicker trunk faster, if the Thyme are several tiny plants together you have to separate them to encourage faster trunk development
The description said that this Rosemary was apparently 2 years old and should be flowering but maybe it’s been in a greenhouse its whole life without seeing actual sun. And both might be several seedlings together to give a higher chance of survival or to last longer before they both get cooked. I’ll leave them as is for now and investigate the stems and root situation in spring when it’s repotting time. Gave both some coffee grounds and water, but that’s it for now.
Afternoon sun could be a meanie so I placed them near the west side wall
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I'm team rosemary, that's where my experience has been. I've seen some really great photos of very old thyme, and oregano Bushes that looked like Danny's desert sagebrush images. @Hartinez
I had a Salvia officinalis, Garden sage, that was winter hardy in my back yard for about 5 years, then a particularly cold winter froze it out. Favorite was fresh sage leaf, garlic and chicken breast, grilled. Fresh sage is quite different flavor than dried sage. The culinary sage, S officinalis, has leaves too big and growth too coarse for herbal bonsai. However, if one is curious, many of the species sages, especially the Mesoamerican and South American sage species have small leaves and woody stems. Not all have small leaves, but many species do. Exploration should turn up worthy candidates for bonsai.

 

Javaman4373

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My daughter introduced us to this way of preparing a delicious sage treat. Fry the sage leaf in a little olive oil under high heat for about a minute. Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
 

LuZiKui

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Just FYI on the Rosemary, I just came across a mashed potato recipe where you steep the rosemary in the milk before adding to the mashed potatoes instead of chopping the rosemary and adding it to the potatoes. The rosemary flavor is great that way but only steep for 10 ish minutes or it will be too potent.
 

ShadyStump

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I'm team rosemary, that's where my experience has been. I've seen some really great photos of very old thyme, and oregano Bushes that looked like Danny's desert sagebrush images. @Hartinez
I had a Salvia officinalis, Garden sage, that was winter hardy in my back yard for about 5 years, then a particularly cold winter froze it out. Favorite was fresh sage leaf, garlic and chicken breast, grilled. Fresh sage is quite different flavor than dried sage. The culinary sage, S officinalis, has leaves too big and growth too coarse for herbal bonsai. However, if one is curious, many of the species sages, especially the Mesoamerican and South American sage species have small leaves and woody stems. Not all have small leaves, but many species do. Exploration should turn up worthy candidates for bonsai.

I've been trying to cultivate the wild white sage that grows in these parts for the past year. Not as much success as I'd hoped, but I have a few plants that are alive and well enough. Not certain the exact species. Currently have 2 one year old seedlings inside for winter and 2 outside; determining winter dormancy needs. Around here it often tends to be more of an annual, though on the southern slopes of hills and mountains it can grow for several years.

The foliage is much smaller than the traditional European garden sage, but grows in longer whips, and the woody growth is brittle and twiggy.
The flavor for cooking, however, is unparalleled. Much brighter and sweeter than the European varieties, though mild Even if I can't make decent bonsai from it, I LOVE cooking with it. Just throw a whole whip into a pot of Anasazi beans and simmer them in beer. 😍 (This is my single greatest regret surrounding my development of a drinking problem: no more cooking with alcoholic beverages 😭)
 

ShadyStump

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I've been trying to cultivate the wild white sage that grows in these parts for the past year. Not as much success as I'd hoped, but I have a few plants that are alive and well enough. Not certain the exact species. Currently have 2 one year old seedlings inside for winter and 2 outside; determining winter dormancy needs. Around here it often tends to be more of an annual, though on the southern slopes of hills and mountains it can grow for several years.

The foliage is much smaller than the traditional European garden sage, but grows in longer whips, and the woody growth is brittle and twiggy.
The flavor for cooking, however, is unparalleled. Much brighter and sweeter than the European varieties, though mild Even if I can't make decent bonsai from it, I LOVE cooking with it. Just throw a whole whip into a pot of Anasazi beans and simmer them in beer. 😍 (This is my single greatest regret surrounding my development of a drinking problem: no more cooking with alcoholic beverages 😭)
The stuff you finally get around to when you're up in the middle of the night.
Finally did some actual research, and discovered it may not even be a salvia. I think it's this species of artemisia.
Random aside completed. Thank you.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I've been trying to cultivate the wild white sage that grows in these parts for the past year. Not as much success as I'd hoped, but I have a few plants that are alive and well enough. Not certain the exact species. Currently have 2 one year old seedlings inside for winter and 2 outside; determining winter dormancy needs. Around here it often tends to be more of an annual, though on the southern slopes of hills and mountains it can grow for several years.

The foliage is much smaller than the traditional European garden sage, but grows in longer whips, and the woody growth is brittle and twiggy.
The flavor for cooking, however, is unparalleled. Much brighter and sweeter than the European varieties, though mild Even if I can't make decent bonsai from it, I LOVE cooking with it. Just throw a whole whip into a pot of Anasazi beans and simmer them in beer. 😍 (This is my single greatest regret surrounding my development of a drinking problem: no more cooking with alcoholic beverages 😭)

Would cooking with a no alcohol beer be a problem? Some of the newer brands of NA beers taste pretty good, not at all like Oduell's and other earlier styles of NA beer. You can get the hops flavor into the beans with out the alcohol.
 

ShadyStump

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Would cooking with a no alcohol beer be a problem? Some of the newer brands of NA beers taste pretty good, not at all like Oduell's and other earlier styles of NA beer. You can get the hops flavor into the beans with out the alcohol.
I haven't tried, but largely because I'm sceptical.
This is part of why I'm out of pickled eggs, too. The secret ingredient is a shot of bourbon per pint, and it makes a real difference the longer they age. It's got me rethinking allot of how I cook.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I know the first 5 years after I quit drinking I had to really steer clear of anything with alcohol. After 5 years, it wasn't so much a problem. I could use wine or beer in cooking, I could visit friends , drink my diet ginger ale, while they had their beer or wine. But I could not walk into a bar safely. After about 10 years I was finally comfortable enough that I could hang out in a bar and stick to diet Pepsi without serious temptation to order a gin and tonic.

Now, after 25+ years, once, maybe twice a year, I sip a shot of 15 year or older bourbon with my brother in law and my now 92 year old father. I no longer have the urge to have a second, it has become easy to stop at one. Not everyone has the same chemistry. I'm lucky, I can stop at just one now after a couple decades of not drinking.

I know for many, it will never be "safe" to have a drink, because stopping will never be easy. If you are not sure you can be "safe", no reason to court disaster. Either learn to like pickled eggs without bourbon, or give up pickled eggs. There are other ways to enjoy eggs. LOL I like my eggs over easy.
 

ShadyStump

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I know the first 5 years after I quit drinking I had to really steer clear of anything with alcohol. After 5 years, it wasn't so much a problem. I could use wine or beer in cooking, I could visit friends , drink my diet ginger ale, while they had their beer or wine. But I could not walk into a bar safely. After about 10 years I was finally comfortable enough that I could hang out in a bar and stick to diet Pepsi without serious temptation to order a gin and tonic.

Now, after 25+ years, once, maybe twice a year, I sip a shot of 15 year or older bourbon with my brother in law and my now 92 year old father. I no longer have the urge to have a second, it has become easy to stop at one. Not everyone has the same chemistry. I'm lucky, I can stop at just one now after a couple decades of not drinking.

I know for many, it will never be "safe" to have a drink, because stopping will never be easy. If you are not sure you can be "safe", no reason to court disaster. Either learn to like pickled eggs without bourbon, or give up pickled eggs. There are other ways to enjoy eggs. LOL I like my eggs over easy.
I hope to be there one day. Stopping at 1 has always been a problem for me, even before I had developed a problem, so I'm not sure.
But I've been recovering for a year, and my last drink was the end of October in the midst of some harsh family drama, and I'm feeling more confident than I have before.
I just remind myself that having a drink is the least of my problems right now, and it keeps things in perspective. Thank God for poverty.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Yes, it was a couple decades before I could afford 15 year old bourbon. Things will get better the longer you go without drinking. Or at least should get better. Booze is expensive.

I really enjoy not having headaches when I wake up in the morning. No more hangovers is motivation enough. Fear of the onerous expenses of a DUI or DWI is another powerful motivator. And then of course is the inevitable making a fool of oneself.
 

ShadyStump

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Yes, it was a couple decades before I could afford 15 year old bourbon. Things will get better the longer you go without drinking. Or at least should get better. Booze is expensive.

I really enjoy not having headaches when I wake up in the morning. No more hangovers is motivation enough. Fear of the onerous expenses of a DUI or DWI is another powerful motivator. And then of course is the inevitable making a fool of oneself.
I make a fool of myself enough without help, but I do appreciate never worrying if I should drive or not.
Never got to the point of drinking on the job, and my mom was killed by an intoxicated driver so that's a line I managed never to cross.
 

It's Kev

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The thyme was utter shyte, like they chucked a handful of seeds in a pot and sold the saplings, so I took out the 2 biggest looking ones and tossed the rest. Not gonna grow it out or anything.
0E4F0911-3FD9-4185-B74F-9B60BDD8432B.jpeg

Got a big pot for Rosemary to grow out a little, 1st time seeing the sun in like 3 weeks
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I can’t get used to the thyme smell, I always go back to Rosemary whenever I’m roasting or stewing
 
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