Iberis evergreen is a perennial herb of the cruciferous family (cabbage), numbering up to 40 varieties. The second name - Iberian, pepper, stennik, razlelepestnik. In the natural environment it grows in the mountainous regions of Asia, the countries of the Mediterranean, in the Caucasus, in the Crimea and the lower reaches of the Don.
Did you know? Iberis got its name from the word Iberia - the ancient Greek name of modern Spain, where the slopes of the Iberian mountains are densely covered with it.
In the garden, Iberis resembles small rounded white clouds, which are speckled by other vegetation. Iberis looks aesthetically pleasing and very impressive, it goes well with many types of flowers and shrubs, it smells nice and refined. At the same time cultivation of iberis in the garden does not require any special costs or time.
Secrets of growing Iberis evergreen in your garden
For many years, we have known iberis as a garden, park, lawn culture. This plant is unpretentious and has excellent decorative qualities. But for his breeding you need to know some subtleties. 
Description and features of evergreen iberis
It looks like a small branched spherical bush, 20-50 cm tall. Leathery, oblong, separately-pinnate or simple, shiny and evergreen leaves. Iberis - a plant that overwinter with foliage and "wakes up" in the spring with leaves. Flowers - silvery or milky-white, small -1-1.5 cm in diameter, collected in umbellate inflorescences up to 40 pcs. in each. The fruit is a bivalve flat pod with light yellow seeds, which germinate for four years. In 1 g of seeds - up to 450 seeds. It blooms twice: the first bloom of Iberis lasts about 3-4 weeks in April-June, the second - in the middle of August. In bloom, the diameter of a single iberis bush is 80-100 cm. The root system is pivotal. It grows up to 10 years in one place.
Important! Due to the peculiarities of the core root system, adult iberis is not recommended to be transplanted from one site to another.
Iberis is not very demanding for its nutritional value, but it takes root and blooms better on stony, sandy, loamy soils.
The most popular varieties of Iberis evergreen
Snowflake - neat small bushes up to 30 cm in height with snow-white flowers. Flowering - in April.
Findel (Findel) - pyshtsvetuschayuschie spherical bushes 25 cm in height.
Little Gem (Little Gem) - dwarf varieties, miniature half-poses not higher than 12 cm.
Planting Iberis Evergreen Seeds
Plant seeds in two ways - directly into the ground or germinating seeds to form young plants.
Planting seeds for seedlings
For seedlings, seedlings are sown in containers in mid-late March. To do this, choose permeable, moderately dense, not loose soil. You can purchase land for seedlings. The use of organic fertilizers is not necessary. The soil is watered, evenly sprinkled on top of it with seeds, and then the seeds are slightly sprinkled with earth (a layer not higher than 2 mm) and covered with glass or film. Greenhouse conditions are created in a covered container - a mode necessary for seed germination when they are optimally and constantly moistened. 
Important! When creating the greenhouse effect, in order to avoid putrefactive lesions, it is necessary to periodically remove the shelter to ventilate and simultaneously harden the shoots.
Water carefully, preferably with a sprayer, as the soil dries. After 10-12 days shoots are shown, which should be thinned out at excessive density. Planting of iberis seedlings - after reaching the stem 6-7 cm in height. Before this, pinch off the tip and plant sprouts together with a mud ball from the container into the ground.
Sowing in open ground
In the south, where there is no frost, the seeds can be sown in winter in late autumn. In other areas in the spring, after the cessation of frost and warming. When sowing, take into account the climate of each individual region and the severity of winter, different in different years. On average, this is April or May. The depth of the planting holes is 6-10 mm, the seeds are poured with a thin line and covered with earth. Watered moderately. After germination (usually after 14-18 days) sprouts thin out, the width between them should be 15-20 cm.
Did you know? If you plant the same variety of Iberis with a difference of 2-3 weeks, it will bloom in the garden all summer.
Other ways of breeding Iberis evergreen
Cuttings
Cuttings of plants are cut already after flowering, planted in containers or pots, they create a greenhouse regime, left in a bright place. Cuttings are taken last year's upper 5-8 cm long, 3-4 cuttings can be placed in one container. Planting evergreen iberis in the open field is carried out in the fall (then the plant is warmed for the winter) or in the spring of next year.
Division of rhizomes
This method is also called the division of the bush. They spend it in early spring, separating the stalks of the bush from each other and shortening the top by about 1/3 - this will help the plant to settle down better in a new place.
They select for transplantation the most magnificent and strong half-jacks.
Choosing a place and partners for iberis
Suitable for alpine hills, stony gardens, stone platforms, looks great in combination with wild stone and decorative stonework. Borders and a border of iberis in flower beds and flower beds look striking. Evergreen iberis is combined with saxifrage, studded with phlox, sedum, rocky alissum. Also different kinds of iberis planted together look good. This method, due to over-pollination during flowering, is not suitable if it is planned to collect seeds from plants for breeding.
Important! Iberis photophilous, when planting you need to take this into account and avoid shady places - tall shrubs and trees. If it is a hill, then the place for iberis is chosen from the south or east side.
Iberis care tips in your garden
By itself, Iberis is lush and grows well, therefore, when planning your garden, you need to calculate a place for it in advance. In general, the care of the plant is very simple. Watering in a timely manner, avoiding strong drying out of the soil, watering is always moderate. Fertilizing in the soil for iberis can not be made at all, but if you feed before flowering, it will be more friendly and plentiful. It is necessary to remove the flowering inflorescences and prune the stems after flowering by a third. After five years, iberis is better to sit down - otherwise the flowers will become smaller.
Preparing Iberis Evergreen for Winter Colds
Collect the seeds, cut off the dried flowers, prune the stems - if you live in the southern areas where the winters are mild, nothing more needs to be done. If in the north, you should cover for the winter, for example, spruce branches.
Resistance of Iberis evergreen to diseases and pests
Iberes is sufficiently resistant to disease. But it can be affected by cabbage forger, mealybugs, cruciferous flea flowers and fungal diseases of rhizomes with excessive watering. For the treatment of harmful insects used garden insectoacaricides, which destroy the pests of iberis. And with root rot, the plant is uprooted and burned, and the soil is treated with disinfectants.
It is not difficult to care for iberis, and the aesthetic pleasure derived from its flowering is great. Iberis also often decorates houses and apartments. In the vase it exudes a delicate pleasant aroma.
