Lobularia Snow Princess

Lobularia Snow Princess with spring annuals

The old-fashioned Lobularia maritima is a delightful, fragrant plant that self-seeds in dry, sunny gardens. In recent times, I have acquired an interesting form called 'Snow Princess' (ht 10-20 cm) which seems to be a large, perennial form, bred from two species of Lobularia, and sometimes sold as Lobularia hybrida. It has the same white bobbled flowers, smelling of honey, just on a much bigger scale! It grows to a wide mat, and looks good cascading over walls or from pots or hanging baskets. Like the annual Lobularia, it grows best in sun, but seems to like a bit more water. It can be cut back by half in August and will regrow strongly. It has crisp white flowers with a strong scent. There is also a version with pink flowers, called 'Blushing Princess'. The 'Stream' series has similar plants. 'Lavender Stream' has pretty mauve flowers. They are bred to be sterile, so do not self-seed like Lobularia maritima. After a few years they get a bit woody an exhausted, so take a few cuttings when it is getting close to this point!