What is it?
When the rockery was all the rage in British gardens, aubrietia was top of the heap, literally. Though fallen from favour in recent years, there’s much to be said for this evergreen perennial, which in spring produces cascades of flowers in purple, blue, pink or red to carpet raised beds and stone walls.
Any good varieties?
Reliable doers include magenta-flowered ‘Red Cascade’, ‘Royal Blue’, white ‘Purity’ or violet ‘Doctor Mules’.
Plant it with?
A mass of aubrieta punctuated by tulips is a wonderful thing. Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) likes similar conditions and will keep flowering through summer, once the aubrieta runs out of steam.
And where?
It thrives best in full sun and soil with sharp drainage. Cutting plants back hard after flowering will help them stay neat, but clumps will begin to look patchy after a few years. Be ruthless and replace them with new plants grown from cuttings or seed, or bought in.
Any drawbacks?
There’s confusion over the spelling. The plant’s Latin name is Aubrieta, after the French botanical artist Claude Aubriet, but an extra “i” crept into the common name along the way. Avoid the issue by calling it false rockcress.
What else does it do?
Bees love it.
