How to Plant and Grow Baby's Breath
The many annual and perennial varieties of baby's breath all provide a light, airy touch to flower gardens.
Baby’s breath is more than a popular filler for floral arrangements. With its loose, billowy panicles of tiny flowers, the sweet plant also provides an airy touch to flower gardens. Of the more than 100 species in the genus Gypsophila, which includes annuals and perennials, only a few are cultivated as garden ornamentals. Baby’s breath flowers can be single or double pink or white, and there are varieties with arching, mounding, or creeping growth habits.
Warning
Baby’s breath is toxic to humans after repeated handling.
Where to Plant Baby’s Breath
Plant baby’s breath in a sunny location. The soil should have excellent drainage and be in the slightly alkaline neutral pH range.
Whether you grow an annual or perennial variety, baby’s breath is a good addition to any cutting or cottage garden. It looks best when planted in small groups, and it works well to disguise the dying stems and foliage of spent spring bulbs or early summer bloomers. The low-growing, creeping forms of baby’s breath are great additions to rock gardens, as they drape beautifully over walls. They are also attractive in containers.
Invasive Plant
The baby’s breath species most commonly used in the cut-flower industry, Gypsophila paniculata, has escaped cultivation in the western and northern United States and Canada. It forms monocultures and outcompetes native species. Baby’s breath is classified as a noxious weed in California and Washington and is on the watchlist of other states such as Minnesota. Before planting baby’s breath, make sure it is not invasive in your area.
How and When to Plant Baby’s Breath
To plant potted baby’s breath from a nursery, wait until there is no more danger of spring frost. Dig a hole about twice the diameter of the pot and about the same depth. Place the plant in the hole and fill it with the original soil to the top of the root ball. Gently tamp down the soil. Water deeply after planting and continue to water in the absence of rain for at least a couple of weeks.
Space plants 12 inches to 3 feet apart, depending on the variety. Creeping baby’s breath needs more space than other types.
Related: The 15 Best Flowers for Dried Arrangements You Can Grow at Home
Baby’s Breath Care Tips
Both the annual and perennial varieties of baby’s breath are low-maintenance.
Light
Baby’s breath does best in full sun, with the exception of southern locations where it benefits from some shade in the hot afternoon hours.
Soil and Water
The most important soil requirement for baby’s breath is excellent drainage. Sandy soil is ideal. Baby’s breath needs a soil pH between 6.0 and 8.0. If your soil is acidic, lower the pH by adding garden lime.
After it is established, baby’s breath has only moderate watering needs and can survive dry spells—it thrives in dry soil.
Related: 15 Drought-Tolerant Groundcovers for a Low-Maintenance Landscape
Temperature and Humidity
The perennial varieties of baby’s breath can be grown in a large temperature spectrum, including areas with subzero winters. Dry climates are best, as baby’s breath does not do well in high humidity.
Fertilizer
Baby’s breath usually does not need any fertilization. It is sufficient to add some compost around the base of the plant in the spring. Overfertilization can lead to floppy growth.
Pruning
When baby’s breath reaches 8 to 12 inches in height, pinch it back to encourage branching. Once it has started flowering, deadhead the spent blooms. You can also do a light pruning after the spring bloom, which keeps the plant tidy and may encourage a second bloom. When the plant is done blooming at the end of the summer, cut all the stems back to about 1 inch above the ground.
Tip
Apply extra caution when pruning a double-flowered baby’s breath cultivar because it has been grafted onto a single-flowered rootstock and should not be cut back below the graft union (usually easy to recognize as a lumpy spot on the stem).
Potting and Repotting Baby’s Breath
Baby’s breath is a good container plant. To grow your own, use a pot with large drainage holes and fill it with a well-draining potting mix. Keep in mind that container plants require more frequent watering and fertilization than plants in the landscape.
Although it is winter-hardy, perennial potted baby’s breath needs winterization in colder climates as the pots don’t provide sufficient insulation from the freezing cold. You can either sink the container in the ground or place it in a second, larger pot to create a planting silo.
Repot the plant in a larger pot with fresh potting soil when the root system reaches the sides of the container or the roots grow out of the drainage holes. The best time to do this is in the spring at the beginning of the growing season. Annual baby’s breath is so short-lived it won’t need repotting.
Related: How to Plant a Container Garden in 6 Easy Steps
Pests and Problems
Baby’s breath can attract aphids, Japanese beetles, and leaf hoppers. Rabbits feed on it, but baby’s breath is deer-resistant. The plants are not prone to any serious diseases.
Related: 6 Things to Do to Get Rid of Garden Bugs Safely
How to Propagate Baby’s Breath
Baby’s breath can be propagated from stem cuttings or seeds. Before you propagate the plant, make sure you don’t have a grafted cultivar or a cultivar that is protected by a plant patent. If that’s the case, you can purchase seeds, which are available for many different annual and perennial types of baby’s breath.
How to Propagate Baby’s Breath from Cuttings
To propagate baby’s breath using stem cuttings, take a 4- to 5-inch cutting from a healthy stem in the spring. Remove all the leaves from the lower third of the cutting and dip the cut end in rooting hormone powder. Insert the cut end in a 4-inch pot filled with sterile potting mix and keep it well-watered in a location with bright light but out of direct sunlight. Water it well and keep it evenly moist. It takes about four weeks for the cutting to root. Wait until it has grown into a strong, healthy plant before transplanting it into the landscape.
How to Propagate Baby’s Breath from Seed
Start baby’s breath from seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last average frost date. Sow the seeds in small pots or cell packs and press the seeds into the soil; do not cover them because the seeds need light to germinate. Keep them evenly moist at 70°F to 75°F. Germination takes two to four weeks. Plant the seedlings outdoors after all danger of frost has passed.
You can also direct seed baby’s breath in the garden, but it is more difficult to keep track of the germination and competing weed growth.
Types of Baby's Breath
Common Gypsophila
Gypsophila paniculata, also called panicled baby’s breath, produces clouds of small single or double white or pink flowers on branching stems. Its blue-green leaves are 2 to 3 inches long. Double-flowered cultivars are often grafted onto hardier single-flowered rootstocks. Popular cultivars include ‘Summer Sparkles’ and ‘Festival Star.’
Creeping Baby’s Breath
Gypsophila repens seldom grows more than a few inches high and is ideal as a groundcover or for tumbling over rocks and walls. The pink or white flowers are abundant for many weeks in summer, and the plant thrives in Zones 4-7.
Showy Baby’s Breath
Gypsophila elegans, also known as showy baby’s breath, is an annual variety. It has larger flowers and a more open growth habit than perennial baby’s breath. It grows 6 inches to 2 feet tall. The plant has a short life span of only six weeks, so for a continuous bloom, plant it consecutively during the growing season.
Baby’s Breath Companion Plants
Oriental Poppy
Oriental poppies are perennial poppies that bloom in the cooler months of April to June. Sometimes, they bloom longer where evenings remain cool during the summer months. Their short flowering time of two weeks makes them a brief but colorful addition to a garden. They are deer-resistant and drought-tolerant. After these plants give their all at bloom time, the foliage dies back and looks ragged, so plan to fill the newly available space with annuals, dahlias, baby's breath, or other later-blooming plants. Oriental poppies do best in Zones 2-8.
Daylily
Daylilies are so easy to grow that you’ll often find them growing in ditches and fields—escapees from gardens. Despite its ability to take root wherever, the plant looks delicate, producing glorious trumpet-shaped blooms in myriad colors. There are some 50,000 named hybrid cultivars in a range of flower sizes (the minis are very popular), forms, and plant heights. Some are fragrant. The flowers are borne on leafless stems. Although each bloom lasts only a single day, superior cultivars carry numerous buds on each scape, so bloom time is long, especially if you deadhead daily. The strappy foliage may be evergreen or deciduous. Zones 3-10 are ideal growing regions.
Dianthus
The quintessential cottage flower dianthus, also called pinks, is treasured for its grass-like blue-green foliage and abundant starry flowers, which are often spicily fragrant. Depending on the type of dianthus, flowers appear in spring or summer and tend to be pink, red, white, rose, or lavender, coming in nearly all shades except true blue. Plants range from tiny creeping groundcovers to 30-inch-tall cut flowers. ‘Firewitch’ is a cultivar with fringed, clove-scented magenta blossoms that bloom in mid-spring to early summer, but blooming may happen sporadically in late summer and fall. Zones 3-10 are best for growing dianthus.
Garden Plans for Baby’s Breath
Ornamental Grass Garden
This plan for an ornamental grass garden includes a few flowering perennials that require little care, just like the suggested grasses, and will thrive in a full sun corner. The lush fountains of foliage are lovely in spring and summer, but ornamental grasses are spectacular in fall when their feathery flower heads sway in the breeze. The buff-colored plumes endure into winter, keeping the garden attractive when all else has gone dormant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does baby’s breath grow naturally?
Gypsophila is native to central and eastern Europe, but it’s also found growing in the wild in many other countries, including North America, to the point of being invasive.
What time of the year does baby’s breath grow?
Gypsophila paniculata, the most commonly grown baby’s breath, is a perennial plant. It grows from spring to fall and goes dormant for the winter. It blooms in late spring and throughout the summer.
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