Stone Cress
Aethionema species. BRASSICACEAE (CRUCIFERAE).
Planting and Growing Stone Cress
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow stone cress in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of stone cress
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for stone cress
- Season of bloom and planting time for stone cress
- When, how deep, and where to plant stone cress
- How to plant stone cress
- Watering, fertilizing, care and pests or diseases of stone cress
- Landscape and container uses of stone cress
- Comments about stone cress and its features
Growing Stone Cress
Over 30 species of dense, erect, rounded, shrubby annual or perennial herbs, to 10 in. (25 cm) tall and wide, with powdery, blue gray, deep green, wide, oval, pointed leaves, to 1 in. (25 mm) long.
Commonly cultivated species include Aethionema arabicum; Persian stone cress, Aethionema grandiflorum; Aethionema iberideum; Aethionema saxiatile; Aethionema schistosum; and Aethionema stylosum.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Many pink, rose, white, yellow, 4-petaled flowers, to 1/2–in. (12–mm) wide, form dense, rounded, terminal clusters, to 4 in. (10 cm) wide, in late spring–summer.
Best Climates
Hardy. Zones 3–9. Best in cold-winter climates. Warley rose, Aethionema X warleyense, is a hybrid of Aethionema grandiflorum, best for zones 7–9.
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, 1 ft. (30 cm) apart.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep damp until established; drought tolerant thereafter. Avoid fertilizing. Mulch. Deadhead spent flowers to prolong bloom. Propagate by division, seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for borders, containers, edgings, massed plantings in country, meadow, natural, rock gardens. Pest and disease resistant.