Flower for the Day Creeping Thyme 5-27-21

Although critically important there is nothing more boring than garden infrastructure - until one day when I look down and see something new. I have been planting creeping thyme (thymus vulgaris) as a ground cover around rocks and stepping stones for decades. Usually there are a few flowers. This year the growing conditions were just right for blooming. I 'saw' a large pink patch near the creeping phlox and thought it was the phlox just holding on longer than usual. Then I looked more closely and it was a blanket of creeping thyme flowers, and all the other creeping thyme was doing the same.

The flowers are in dense terminal heads with an uneven calyx that has a a three-lobed upper lip.

Just another lesson in the distinction looking at and seeing.