Candytuft

Candytuft (Iberis) - Valuable hardy perennials and annuals, the perennials somewhat shrubby and evergreen, and precious as rock garden, border, and margining plants:-

Contents 1 Related Flowers 1.1 Iberis Corifolia 1.2 Iberis Correaefolia 1.3 Iberis Gibraltarica 1.4 Iberis Jucunda 1.5 Iberis Petraea 1.6 Iberis Semperflorens 1.7 Iberis Sempervirens 1.8 Iberis Tenoreana 1.9 Annual Candytuft

Related Flowers

Iberis Corifolia

Iberis Corifolia - A dwarf kind 3 or 4 inches high, and covered with small white blooms early in May. Few alpine plants are more worthy of general culture, either in the rock garden or the mixed border, for the front of which it is well suited. Easily propagated by seeds or cuttings, and thriving best in light sandy soil. Sicily.

Iberis Correaefolia

Iberis Correaefolia - known by its large leaves, its compact heads of large white flowers, by flowering later than other common white kinds, and both the flowers and the corymb are larger than in the other species, coming into beauty about the end of May, when the other kinds are fading. It is excellent for the rock garden, the mixed border, and is well suited for the margins of beds of shrubs. Increased by cuttings, not coming true from seed.

Iberis Gibraltarica

Iberis Gibraltarica - A beautiful plant, larger in all its parts than the other kinds, with flowers of delicate lilac in low close heads, in spring and early summer. Its hardiness is doubtful, and it should, therefore, be planted on sunny spots in the rock garden or on banks in light soil, and wintered in frames. Readily increased from seeds.

Iberis Jucunda

Iberis Jucunda - Distinct, growing about 2 1/2 inches high, the leaves small, the flowers in small clusters, flesh color, prettily veined with rose in early summer. It does not possess the vigour of the other evergreen Iberises, but it is fitted for grouping with dwarf alpine flowers on warm parts of the rock garden in well-drained sandy loam. Syn. I. AEthionema.

Iberis Petraea

Iberis Petraea - A pretty alpine species, 3 inches high, with a flat cluster of white flowers, relieved in the centre by a tinge of red, thriving among rock plants in welldrained spots with plenty of moisture.

Iberis Semperflorens

Iberis Semperflorens - A shrubby plant, with dense corymbs of whit flowers, and not suited for border culture, though hardy enough to stand our winters when grown at the foot of a south wall or in a very sunny corner of the rock garden. Under those favourable conditions it forms a pretty evergreen bush in bloom nearly all the year. Mediterranean islands.

Iberis Sempervirens

Iberis Sempervirens - The commonest perennial Candytuft, half-shrubby, dwarf, spreading, evergreen, and perfectly hardy, it escapes where many plants are destroyed by cold; and in April and May its neat tufts of dark green change into masses of snowy white. Where a very dwarf evergreen edging is required for a shrubbery, or for beds of shrubs, it is one of the best plants known, as on any soil it quickly forms spreading masses almost as low as the lawn-grass.

Iberis Tenoreana

Iberis Tenoreana - A dwarf kind, with white flowers, changing to purple. It has not, however, the hardiness of the white kinds, and perishes on heavy soils in winter; on light sandy soils in the rock garden it is pretty. It is easily raised from seed, and should be treated as a biennial. S. Italy.

Annual Candytuft

Annual Candytuft (Iberis Umbellata) - This and its ally (I. coronaria) are the hardy annual Candytufts. They are varied in color, and are among the most useful of annual flowers. They may be sown at all seasons, but, as in the case of most other hardy annuals, the finest flowers are from autumn-sown plants, which flower from May to July. They like a rich soil and plenty of room to flower freely. There are a great number of varieties, differing both in growth and color. What are known as the dwarf or nana strain are neat and dwarf in growth, are abundant bloomers and showy. I. umbellata nana rosea and alba are two of the most distinct, being about 9 inches high; the dark crimson, carmine, lilac, and purple sorts, about 1 foot high, are also fine. The Rocket Candytuft (I. coronaria) in good soil grows 12 to 16 inches high, with pure white flowers in long dense heads, and there is a dwarf variety of it (pumila), 4 to 6 inches high, forming spreading tufts 1 foot or more across. The Giant Snowflake is also an excellent variety. These Rocket Candytufts require the same treatment as the common varieties.