Gypsophila aretioides

Gypsophila aretioides is one of those cushiony plants I love, but I'm smart enough to know I probably wouldn't have success with. Why? How about this description from the Missouri Botanical Garden: "Easily grown in somewhat dry, sandy-gritty, well-drained soils in full sun. Prefers alkaline soils (pH7.0 to 7.5). Add lime to acidic soils. Soils must have good drainage. Plants may not survive winter in wet, poorly drained soils. Likes to be left undisturbed once established."

I love that they start off with the word "easy," but then go on to a long list of very specific requirements. Easy for who? Certainly not someone with a winter-wet climate and clay soil, like me.

Other desciptions I read online all reference it's dense, hard feel: "The stems and tiny narrow, grey-green leaves are so closely packed that the plant feels hard to the touch." (source) and "Forms hard creeping cushions with very tiny foliage." (source) and "Gypsophila aretioides is a half-hardy alpine plant, ideal for growing in containers and rockeries, where its closely packed stems and leaves form an almost impenetrable carpet." (source)

Of course all those descriptions only make me want it even more...

Weather Diary, June 17: Hi 81, Low 58/ Precip none

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

My favorite plant this week isn’t growing in my garden...

Months back I toyed with the idea of combining the “my favorite plant” feature with a new one, something along the lines of “what I’m currently lusting after.” Ever since then the fav’s have been battling somthing fierce to see who gets to be written about, so it never happened. But the time is now! See that little plant snuggled up next to the rocks? It has captured my imagination and won’t let go…

What is it? I wondered that myself. A little puff ball skeleton, it was an anomaly in very simple garden I featured last week on the plant lust blog. All alone, it was like it sprung unexpectedly from seed, maybe a gift from a visiting bird.

I thought about posting it here and asking you all what it was, I thought about posting it to the “Plant Idents” group on Facebook. Yet before I could do either of those my plant lust co-hort Megan pinned it to a plant wishlist Pinterest board (we definitely gravitate towards similar plants). Now I know it’s Artemisia versicolor 'Seafoam'…

The description from the Plant Select® program says all the right things: "Vigorous, attractive groundcover with lacy, mounding foliage of silvery blue. Good winter presence. Clump forming and non-invasive. Perennial. Xeriscape. Garden loam, clay or sandy soil. USDA zones 4b-8." Really could it be any better? Still the images I find on a Google search give me a little concern, it might be a little weedy for my tastes, especially when it blooms. Have any of you grown it?

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.