Fragrant Persian Stonecress (Aethionema)

10″ tall x 15″ wide (seed propagated). Hundreds of soft pink flower clusters smother this plant in early spring; get close and you will enjoy its intensely sweet fragrance. The tiny leaves are evergreen, and are a distinctive powder . When finished blooming, cut back the old flowering stems to just above the new cluster of foliage at the base of the plant.

Plant in a lean, fast-draining soil, where Aethionema will spread by reseeding itself. Plant early-blooming, low-growing Veronica liwanensis or Alyssum ‘Mountain Gold’ to carpet the ground around it.