When sorting through my endless supply of garden photos, I always catch myself staring at this picture of my perennial garden from a number of years ago. I love the combination of the baby’s breath with the pink phlox and the lavender liatris. Then I wonder why on earth I don’t grow baby’s breath anymore. It has such lovely little flowers.
The truth is I have a brown thumb when it comes to baby’s breath. I’ve tried 2 different cultivars (‘Bristol Fairy’ and ‘Pink Fairy’) numerous times in 3 separate locations over the years and they all croaked. Some didn’t survive winter. Others teased me by appearing healthy in the spring only to disappear without a trace by mid-summer. Eventually I gave up.
There’s a new baby’s breath on the market called ‘Perfecta.’ It’s similar in habit to ‘Bristol Fairy’, but it’s propagated by tissue culture to produce a more robust and vigorous plant.
‘Perfecta’ grows 36 inches tall with double white flowers. I may just have to give it a try this year.