How to Grow Annual Baby's Breath Flowers
Annual baby's breath, Gypsophilia elegans, bears delicate, airy-looking flowers and grows 1 ½ to 2 feet tall. Its flowers complement others, especially roses, and these are often used together in wedding bouquets. Baby's breath loves the warmth of summer and attracts bees, butterflies and birds. It can reseed itself. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Select the baby's breath seeds based on your preference on size or color. Gypsy Deep Rose has dark pink flowers and grows about a foot tall, for example. Early Snowball has tiny round flowers and grows about 3 feet tall.
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Prepare the flowerbed in an area with partial to full sun and light rich soil. Avoid rocky or clay soils and add compost if the soil is too compacted. Baby's breath plants also like alkaline soil, so avoid planting it in areas with too much acid, such as near pine trees.
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Start the baby's breath seeds indoors. They are very small and they take about 10-15 days to sprout. Once the seeds have germinated, the seedlings grow quickly.
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Transplant the baby's breath plants outdoors when they are a couple of inches tall after all danger of frost is over. Leave about 8 inches between each plant.
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Water the baby's breath plants well. These flowers do not tolerate drought.
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Make succession plantings to ensure a fresh flowering of baby's breath. The whole plant dies off once the blooms are spent, so plan for more if you would like them to flower during the whole summer. Reseed baby's breath every two weeks until the middle of the summer.
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Cut and dry baby's breath flowers for use in bouquets. Band them together in small bundles and hang upside down in warm, dry area for a few weeks.
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References
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