Monday, May 05, 2008

Evergreen Candytuft

Evergreen Candytuft
Iberis sempervirens
(eye-BEER-is) (sem-per-VY-renz)


Here is another plant that I can’t really grow because the deer love it. There has been a little patch growing on the Estate in some cracks in the rock work. If it sticks head above the rocks it gets munched. It has kind of adapted to that and flowers below the rocks but hasn’t been able to spread. In general it likes soil that is average and it has be well draining. Iberis is a good choice for the rock garden or for edging along paths and borders. The early flowers are a nice splash of white and it should be sheared lightly to tidy it up after the first heavy spring bloom. It will flower sporadically during the rest of the season. Candytuft can be grown in light shade but will not flower as much as when planted in full sun. Generally I have found to be a plant that when it is happy and well sited it grows well and puts on a good show.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

a very pretty flower and i love the name 'candytuft'.... white is one of my favs-- i guess it's because it stands out so much.

i enjoy your blog so.... would you mind if i put your link on my blog?.... your photos are lovely and i learn something new each time.... i even wrote a poem about one of the flowers you posted last year....

i enjoyed

carol

Priscilla George said...

Beautiful. I have candytuft but love to gather seeds so I never get blooms all year. I should get over that habit and just shear like you said after the first bloom and let them grown back again. I have 3 monsterous candytuft that are going to seed right now. They got about 18" tall. That is a lot compared to the max 6" tall ones that I have.

SandyCarlson said...

Sure would be great if the deer would come through about the time the sheering needs to take place!

joey said...

I love Candytuft, Chris, and though other friends are 'jumping for joy', wonder why mine are not so 'happy' this year! Great shots ...

K M F said...

very very beautiufll

Digital Flower Pictures said...

Hi carol, thanks for being a regular visitor. Sure I would love a link on your site.

VL, It can be a difficult decision to let plants go to seed for collection or not. The secondary blooms are not that great but the shearing can keep the patch tidy.

Sandy, that would be great. Sometimes the deer actually do some good pruning.

joey, sorry to hear that your Candytuft isn't up to par this year. It might be related to that wet winter you had up there.

kmf, I haven't seen you here in awhile. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

Lynette said...

This grows around here, in front yards beside the sidewalks. I'm fascinated by the design of it. Thanks for this information because I had no idea what this swell little flower was until I scrolled through your beautiful recent posts.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I stumbled across your blog looking for what to do with my candytuft now that it is done flowering! Its new to me and I'm still learning. It looks like its going to seed now since there are pod like tips on the ends where the flowers were. Can I collect them? If so, how? (I'm moving and wouldn't mind taking some with me) and can I shear the patches now to clean up my garden without doing harm if I decide not to collect seed?

Thanks for your input!

Digital Flower Pictures said...

I have never collected the seed before. Can you divide it and take some plant with you? Only shear after collecting the seed.