Aubrieta Red Cascade

Aubrieta 'Red Cascade' is a small perennial plant that forms, from the end of winter and throughout spring, adorable tapestry of small reddish-purple flowers, becoming more purple before fading. The rest of the year, its evergreen to semi-evergreen leaves will continue to adorn the garden. This very floriferous but short-lived perennial is easy to grow in cool and well-drained soil, in the sun. It will thrive between stones and slabs, cascade over walls, and bloom at the base of other plants in large planters.

Hybrid Aubrietas belong to the cabbage family, mostly derived from Aubrieta deltoidea, native to southeastern Europe and Turkey. They are plants with a compact and carpeting habit, forming cushions that do not exceed 15cm (6in) in height, spreading quite rapidly over a diameter of 60cm (24in). Their semi-evergreen to evergreen leaves, depending on the climate, are slightly silver-green and ovate in shape. In summer, the foliage sometimes turns yellow, without affecting the plant's health, as it will green up with the first rain. The small leaves have pointed tips and roughly serrated margins. In spring, between the end of March and the end of May, they are adorned with numerous small four-petaled flowers in a very bright pink-red shade, darkening slightly before the flower fades. These are very hardy plants, resistant to -20°C.

With its homogeneous carpeting growth, Aubrieta is ideally suited for border planting. Not demanding in terms of soil, as long as it is not too dry, it also thrives in rockeries or on flowering walls: it forms beautiful patches and beautiful flows of colours, like an impressionist painting. It colonizes the ground quite quickly, allowing it to be planted on a sunny slope. Between paving stones, in the crevices of walls, Aubrietas are fabulous. They also work well in balcony planters and hanging baskets, with their stems cascading over the container to hide its edges.