Exceptional Plants for the Garden
An Iberis Masterpiece
Debbie Teashon
When I visited Tom and Judy Hornbuckle's garden on the Long Beach Peninsula in July, I spied a candytuft in full flower. I thought it was strange to find a perennial Iberis sempervirens blooming in July. I chalked up the plant’s out-of-season-flowers to “newly planted syndrome,” or “container-culture confusion.”
Normally the perennial evergreen Iberis sempervirens doesn't excite me. I grew it for years, and always enjoyed the flowers in spring, when the evergreen plant became an ocean of white cascading down my rock wall. I grew tired of it and pulled it out, although I sometimes grow an annual version of candytuft.
I enjoyed the interesting vignette in Judy's garden of a pine tree with candytuft and a handsome piece of driftwood—the reason I photographed it. My camera was giving me fits at the time I was photographing, so I was lucky I came away with any shots at all.
Fast forward to the end of October, when I revisited her garden and there was the Iberis still blooming as prolifically as the last time I stood over it. Candytuft has a very long blooming period, and Judy never deadheaded the plant! I need another look at this perennial. This hybrid needs to be growing in my garden again.
Iberis 'Masterpiece' is its name, and flowering profusely is its game.
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton
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