Garden and Flowers

WILD CANDYTUFT

Iberis amara, a small annual with a honey-sweet fragrance, grows in loose, calcareous soil in Europe. Its flowers are sometimes pale lilac or soft pink in color, but usually white. The stems grow to about 12 in high. The wild species, a familiar weed, particularly in the fields of southern Euope, was improved until it became a garden plant. It now wafts its fragrance along garden paths and across flower-beds and patio containers.

There are several lovely cultivars, including the well-known Iberis amara ‘Iceberg’ with its pyramidal white flowers, which are called “hyacinth-flowered” because of their height. Iberis ‘Snowbird’ is a cross between Iberis amara and an unknown species. It has a spreading habit and bears flattish heads of small white florets in July-August. Cutting off flower stems (for vases) or stems that have finished flowering will prolong the flowering season.

Sow the sedd of Iberis thinly in situ in late summer or early spring.