Annual Baby’s-Breath
Gypsosphila elegans. CARYOPHYLLACEAE.
Planting and Growing Annual Baby’s-Breath
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow annual baby’s-breath in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of annual baby’s-breath
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for annual baby’s-breath
- Season of bloom and planting time for annual baby’s-breath
- When, how deep, and where to plant annual baby’s-breath
- How to plant annual baby’s-breath
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of annual baby’s-breath
- Landscape and container uses of annual baby’s-breath
- Comments about annual baby’s-breath and its features
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Growing Annual Baby’s-Breath
Several cultivars of open, mounding annual herbs, 8–20 in. (20–50 cm) tall. Deep green, lance-shaped, succulent leaves, 1–2 in. (25–50 mm) long.
Common cultivars include Gypsosphila elegans ‘Carmina’, ‘Covent Garden’, ‘Grandiflora Alba’, ‘Kermesina’, ‘Purpurea’, and ‘Rosea’.
See also perennial Baby’s Breath, Gypsosphila paniculata, a closely related species with similar care needs.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Many pink, purple, white, 5-petaled flowers, 1/4–1-in. (6–25-mm) wide, in cloudlike profusion, in late spring–summer.
Best Climates
Self-seeding, zones 3–9.
Soil Type and Fertility
Damp to dry, well-drained soil. Fertility: Average–low. 7.0–8.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring in full sun, 12–18 n. (30–45 cm) apart, after frost hazard has passed. Start seed indoors 4–5 weeks before final frost for early blooms; transplant when frost hazard has passed. Plant successions for continual bloom.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep damp; allow soil surface to dry between waterings. Fertilize annually in spring. Propagate by seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for borders, containers, fillers, foregrounds in cottage, formal, rock, small-space gardens. Good for cutting, drying. Disease resistant. Gopher and slug, snail susceptible.