# Wild Mountain Thyme vs Heather **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2025, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050 "2025-09-15T02:28:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/1 "2025-09-15T02:28:00Z")
Why would one want to remove thyme that is growing around heather? ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/2 "2025-09-15T02:33:46Z")
I don’t think it’s being removed; I think it’s being gathered. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/3 "2025-09-15T02:35:43Z")
I hear they either pull it or pluck it and it’s sorta a social activity. Hard to tell if it’s being removed or gathered. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/4 "2025-09-15T02:36:18Z")
I think the theory is that removing thyme that is growing around heather is generally desirable because thyme can become invasive, spread quickly, and compete with heather for sunlight, water, and nutrients, possibly inhibiting the heather’s growth and health. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/5 "2025-09-15T04:20:48Z")
Speaking as someone trying to grow thyme in my backyard… It grows quite slowly. It’s not invasive. I’m pretty sure they are picking the thyme because they want the thyme. It smells nice. And it happens to be growing around the blooming heather, making the whole experience one of attractive color and scent. I think the song is meant to be about romance, not about weeding the heather patch. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/6 "2025-09-15T04:53:44Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Speaking as someone trying to grow thyme in my backyard… It grows quite slowly. It’s not invasive. I concur! ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/7 "2025-09-15T05:59:14Z")
While heather, by contrast, in the conditions that characterise Scottish moorlands is profuse and practically indestructible. Heather doesn’t have a very high utility, so it’s not actively cultivated. Management usually consists of periodic burning to promote new growth which makes for better grazing for sheep and deer. Sheep and deer can also graze on thyme, so maintaining a balance bewtween heather and thyme wouldn’t be a major concern from that point of view. I’ve heard of efforts being made to eradicate rhododendron from Scottish moorland, but not other invasive plants that compete with heather. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/8 "2025-09-15T08:29:25Z")
How else would you get the lassie to go? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/9 "2025-09-15T08:50:29Z")
Or on second thoughts, does she have reservations about what, exactly, you might mean by “pulling wild mountain thyme”? Did Heather not oblige? ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/10 "2025-09-15T09:54:09Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Or on second thoughts, does she have reservations about what, exactly, you might mean by “pulling wild mountain thyme”? From Netflix and chill to the showing of etchings, couples have always needed a euphemism/pretext for spending private time together. Pulling wild mountain thyme, an activity which would lead a bonny young pair off into the hills together only to return flushed with the glow of healthy exercise and some stray plant material adhering to their person, seems to meet the case. I suspect any young woman invited on a thyme gathering expedition by a likely young man had a pretty shrewd idea of what kind of thyme would be had. (I thought I was being a bit mean here to the singer, who talks of building his love a bower, fighting through the dark to find precious treasure for her etc. but he does go on to say that if his true love doesn’t feel like gathering thyme then he’ll do it with someone else, so the focus does seem to be on getting that thyme good and gathered rather than the purity of devotion.) ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/11 "2025-09-15T12:02:28Z")
Same theme, different country. https://www.youtube.com/embed/lGYffZLIlq8?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDlGYffZLIlq8 ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/12 "2025-09-15T14:57:42Z")
A: Long thyme passing. Q: Where have all the flours gone? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/13 "2025-09-15T15:02:21Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Pulling wild mountain thyme, an activity which would lead a bonny young pair off into the hills together only to return flushed with the glow of healthy exercise and some stray plant material adhering to their person, seems to meet the case That, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/14 "2025-09-18T04:18:13Z")
Then nobody uses thyme as a spice? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/15 "2025-09-18T09:07:42Z")
I meant to include “they used thyme as a spice” when I wrote: > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’m pretty sure they are picking the thyme because they want the thyme (And i use thyme as a source, fwiw.) ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/16 "2025-09-18T12:43:44Z")
Yes, clearly one of the risks of Alec and Morag using thyme-gathering as an excuse to be alone together is that at some point somebody is going to pointedly ask them to fetch all that thyme they’ve been gathering so it can be added to tonight’s stew and, well, that could be a delicate moment. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/17 "2025-09-18T12:47:28Z")
Picking enough thyme for supper literally takes about 45 seconds. Most of the time needed is to get out to a good spot to pick it. They really ought to have time to harvest a little and also have some time together. (Did i mention i grow thyme?) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2025, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/18 "2025-09-20T10:39:28Z")
Ah, but wild mountain thyme takes a bit of effort to get to, not to mention finding a spot with the right amount of springy heather. This isn’t “Come Into The Garden, Maude”. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-mountain-thyme-vs-heather/1023050/19 "2025-10-18T21:35:28Z")
Shall we consider piling all the flowers of the mountain on a bower now?