Covent Garden Baby's Breath
Gypsophila elegans 'Covent Garden'
Height: 15 inches
Spacing: 12 inches
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 2b
Description:
Simple, single blooms emerging on an elegant, airy plant; a pleasant change from typical baby's breath; flowers from early to mid-summer; clip lightly after blooming to promote re-bloom; great as filler in the garden or a vase
Ornamental Features
Covent Garden Baby's Breath has masses of beautiful clusters of white star-shaped flowers with buttery yellow eyes at the ends of the stems from early to mid summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. Its grassy leaves remain bluish-green in colour throughout the season.
Landscape Attributes
Covent Garden Baby's Breath is an herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.
This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Covent Garden Baby's Breath is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Mass Planting
- Border Edging
- General Garden Use
- Groundcover
- Container Planting
Planting & Growing
Covent Garden Baby's Breath will grow to be about 15 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 12 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!
This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in sandy soils. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.
Covent Garden Baby's Breath is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers against which the larger thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.