baby's breath
Hi Douglas,
Baby's Breath comes in both annual and perennial versions, both of which
originate in temperate climates with cold winter seasons. The botanical
genus name is "gypsophila", from "gypsum" (lime), and implies a penchant
for sweet (alkaline), as opposed to acid, soil.
I've grown both annual and perennial forms. I love the old fashioned
single-flowered perennial. This form grows into a big clump, three feet
high, with thousands and thousands of very tiny white flowers. It has a
very distinctive sweet-sour scent, very much like, you guessed it, a baby's
milky breath. Botanically this is Gypsophila paniculata. It is very
hardy, and is a ditch-clogging weed in parts of the Canadian prairies. I
doubt that it would grow without a winter dormant period.
There are also double and pink flowered perennial forms.
The kinds of baby's breath sold in florist shops is usually from annual
hybrids. These sorts come in a bunch of varieties, as singles, doubles,
and in both white and pink. I've always found them odorless. You could
probably grow them very well in your climate, so long as the soil wasn't
too acid.
Most commercial seed catalogues will contain seed for both perennial and
annual varieties. I am looking, right now, at a catalogue from Stokes
Seeds, which has a U.S. operation at Box 548, Buffalo, NY, 14240. It lists
two white and one pink annual, and one of each in the perennial section.
Stokes catalogues contain excellent cultural material. They sell to both
commercial and home users. Good luck
Ron