Arabis 'Spring Charm' Pink Rockcress - 75 seeds

Arabis blepharophylla 'Spring Charm'

Wall Rockcress, Wall Cress, Pink Rockcress, Mountain Rockcress

syn A. blepharophylla Fruhlingszauber

Packet containing 21mg

Average contents 75 seeds.

Hardy Perennial

Flowers:           Deep Rose-Carmine. Early to late spring

Foliage:           Flat mats of foliage. Slightly succulent like evergreen leaves

Height:             15to 20cm (6 to 8in)

Spread:            30 to 50cm (12 to 20in)

Position:          Sun to light shade

Soil types:        Well drained ordinary garden soil

Arabis blepharophylla or ‘Rose rockcress’ is a dwarf, mat-forming evergreen perennial with soft deep green leaves that form ground-hugging rosettes.

Masses of bright clusters of four-petalled rosy-pink flowers are borne on short stems from late spring into summer. A well grown specimen can be covered in hundreds of flowers which are sweetly scented and long-lasting.

Arabis is readily familiar as a widely planted rock garden or edging perennial. This pretty California native resembles and is related to Aubrieta and is used in a similar fashion. It makes a good groundcover and is excellent for trailing over the edges of containers, over stones or down walls.

Arabis are easy to grow, tough & hardy, avoid wet areas and cut back after flowering for best foliage. Plant under spring-blooming bulbs ferns or wildflowers for a bright spring display. In containers or in the garden, it will fill the void when yearning for blooms is tugging at your core.

Sowing:           Sow in early autumn for flowering the following spring, or in late spring for flowering the following year.

Sowing Indoors:

Fill cells or pots with a free draining seed compost, stand the containers in water to moisten thoroughly, then drain. Sow the seeds on the surface of the compost; do not cover as the seeds need light to germinate. Make sure the compost is moist and not wet and seal in a polythene bag until after germination which usually takes 14-21 days at 18-20°C (65-68°F). Keep in a coldframe or unheated greenhouse. Remove the polythene bag once the first seedlings appear.

When seedlings are large enough to handle, transplant them to 7cm (3in) pots to grow on. Remember to hold the seedlings by the leaves and not the stem.

Once established, plant out spacing 20cm (8in) apart into a well drained garden soil preferably with gritty, well-drained soil in full sun.

Sowing Direct:

Seeds can also be sown directly in open ground. Sow a few seeds into a small prepared area. Thin out seedlings as they grow firstly to 5cm (2in) apart, then to 20cm (8in) apart. Replant the transplanted seedlings in another part of the garden.

Cultivation:

Arabis are easy to grow. They prefer light, well-drained soil and are tolerant of a wide pH range but will be short lived if drainage is poor. (Plants have a tendency to suffer from root rot when conditions are too cool and wet.). It will grow in light shade, but for best blooms should be planted in full sun. It does fine in shade, but bloom time will be slightly shorter.

There is one golden rule: Cut back after flowering! The flowers fade during the first half of June, sheer the plant back after it is finished blooming to regain fresh growth & compactness. If left untrimmed it will become rangy in summer heat. Do not cut back foliage in autumn or early spring, doing so will prevent the plants from flowering.

Plant Uses:

Suitable for rockeries, walls, borders, edging paths, planters, window boxes. Low Maintenance, Gravel Gardens. Costal areas. Underplanting of shrubs.  Attractive to both bees and butterflies.

Origin:

The species is native to coastal bluffs and hillsides on the western slopes of the California coast ranges.

Nomenclature:

Arabis is the Greek word for ‘Arabian’.

The species name blephariphyllus, (pronounced blef-ar-oh-FIL-uh) is taken from the Latin blepharis meaning 'eyelash' and phyllon meaning 'leaf or foliage'. The literal meaning is 'fringed leaf'

Fruhlingszauber is German for Spring Charm ('frühling' meaning spring, 'zauber' means 'charm')