Aubrieta Red Carpet

Aubrieta 'Red Carpet' is a particularly carpeting and floriferous variety of aubretia. This small perennial forms charming carpets of flowers in a very bright pink-carmine colour from the beginning of winter and throughout spring. The rest of the year, its evergreen to semi-evergreen leaves in a greyish-green colour continue to dress the garden. This highly floriferous but short-lived perennial is easy to grow in moist and well-drained soil in the sun. Aubriietas are essential when it comes to transforming a wall, a rock garden, a pavement, or a large planter, in a soil that is always slightly damp.

Hybrid Aubrietas belong to the Brassicaceae family and are mostly derived from Aubrieta deltoidea, native to southeastern Europe and Turkey. They are rhizomatous plants with a compact and carpeting habit, forming cushions that do not exceed 15cm (6in) in height and spreading quite rapidly over a diameter of 50 to 60cm (20 to 24in). Their semi-evergreen to evergreen leaves, depending on the climate, are slightly silver-green and oval in shape. In summer, the foliage sometimes turns yellow, without affecting the plant's health, as it will turn green again with the first rain. The small leaves end in a point and have roughly serrated margins. In spring, between the end of March and the end of May, this 'Red Carpet' variety is adorned with countless small flowers with four petals in a very vibrant pink-red shade. These are very hardy plants that can withstand temperatures as low as -20°C.

With its very carpeting and uniform growth, Aubrieta is ideally suited for planting as a border. Not demanding in terms of soil, as long as it is not too dry, it also thrives in rock gardens or on flowering walls: it forms beautiful splashes and flows of colours, like an impressionist painting. It quickly colonizes the ground, making it suitable for planting on a sunny slope. Between paving stones, in the gaps of walls, aubretias are fabulous. They also work well in balconies and hanging baskets, at the base of other upright plants, and their stems will cascade from the container to hide its edges.