Gardens in Japan: Buy a bacopa for your balcony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another addition to our balcony is the Sutera Cordata is the scientific name for Bacopa or Ornamental Bacopa. Another synonym is Sutera diffusus.

I learnt from my florist that  Bacopa a very popular plant for gardeners who want long- blooming plants for balcony containers and hanging baskets.  It spills beautifully over over the edge of any type of planter box.  It blooms in sunlight and is a shortlived perennial. In warmer climates it will do a wonderful job as a border or a ground cover.

With an origin in southern Africa, bacopa is a species in the genus Sutera (Scrophulariaceae) and is now more properly called Chaenostoma cordata. Small dark green heart shaped leaves and small round five-petaled white flowers at the branch tips can be found year round, but at its prime in spring. There are white, light pink to violet-blue types. (In the corner, the large flower is a Blue Anemone.) 

They are lovely as groundcover sprawling in the garden, but do not return or recover well after a cold winter.

 

 

Bacopa trailing at the bottom is popularly used in hanging baskets