Aubrieta x cultorum Silberrand

The Aubrieta or Aubrieta 'Silberrand' is a distinctive variety, with beautiful variegated foliage, green, marginate and splashed with white. Its early spring flowering blooms in larger flowers than the typical variety, with bright violet color. Throughout the rest of the year, its evergreen leaves dress up rockeries and flowerbeds. Aubrieta forms a small spreading perennial ground cover, ideal for covering the ground. Very hardy and low-maintenance, it fits in between taller perennials to fill the soil in borders and front of flowerbeds.

Hybrid Aubrietas belong to the family of brassicaceae, mostly derived from Aubrieta deltoidea, native to southeastern Europe and Turkey. They are compact and spreading plants, forming cushions that do not exceed 15 cm in height, but spread quite rapidly to a diameter of 60 cm. Their semi-evergreen to evergreen leaves, depending on the climate, are green with white margins and variegation, and have an oval shape. In summer, the foliage sometimes turns yellow, without affecting the health of the plant, which will turn green again with the first rain. The small leaves end in a point and have roughly serrated margins. In spring, between late March and late May, the 'Pixie Pearls' variety is adorned with numerous small four-petaled flowers, in a bright violet color, with yellow stamens.

Easy to grow and with good hardiness, around -20°C, the Aubrieta 'Silberrand' thrives in a light and well-drained soil, even chalky. Ideal in rockeries, walls, borders and paving, it loves sunny exposures. Its spreading nature makes it a good plant for slopes and any type of soil, as long as it is not too dry. It also makes a good ground cover in pots, containers, and hanging baskets, with its stems cascading beautifully. Combine it with Sedums, Geranium cinereum, Dianthus, or Erigeron karvinskianus.