A perennial form of candytuft, is a little, cold hardy, sun loving charmer with pretty evergreen foliage and stunning snow-white flowers. It’s very much a foreground plant, perfect for front of the border situations, small gardens and containers.
‘Snowtop’ is one of those small plants which is very generous with its flowers. In spring and early summer it flowers profusely and there’s often a lesser flowering in winter as well. The flowers sit just above the close-knit, deep green foliage, looking just like a topping of snow, so the name is very apt.
This is a very easy to grow plant, seldom growing much higher than 35 centimetres and spreading up to twice that width. With its dense growth it makes a most effective ground cover, especially if several are planted together. A light trimming back when the last flowers have finished in early summer will ensure it stays bushy, compact and vigorous.
Try mixing it with other white flowers for a look that’s crisp and pretty. White flowered varieties of annuals such as violas and alyssum are interesting companions, as is the silvery-grey foliaged, white flowered, Convolvulus cneorum and ground covering Bacopa ‘Blizzard’.
So long as you plant them behind these low growers, taller, white flowered perennials such as the frilly flowered new Aster ‘Aglaia’ and marguerite daisy ‘Sugar Crystals’ or ‘Summer Lustre’ are other worthwhile, white flowered companion plants.
Grey foliage looks good with Iberis ‘Snowtop’ too. Try it with Leucanthemum ‘Sparkles’, Senecio cineraria ‘White Diamond’, or lambs’ ears, Stachys byzantina.
With blue flowers it’s a delight. Among the possibilities are smaller growing, English lavenders, such as ‘Violet Intrigue’ and ‘Avonview’, Felicia ‘Blue Jay’ with little daisy flowers with yellow centres, and Brachychomes.
The little, ground covering, lilac flowered Geranium incanum, which is seldom without its flowers, also makes a cheery sight with Iberis ‘Snowtop’.
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Schemes & Themes
using Liddle Wonder Plants