Kingsley The flowers used to make baby’s breath are all indigenous to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. They were brought to the United States in the late 1800s. You would be right if you speculated that Queen Victoria may have had some influence. Many “Victorian” patterns that we know and appreciate today—whether they pertain to gardening or not—were created by the English queen Victoria. She loved delicate baby’s breath bouquet flowers and incorporated them into her wedding bouquets. The white wedding attire, unheard of until Queen Victoria’s 1838 union with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, is one of the traditions we still follow today. Symbolism abounds in the baby’s breath. Usually, this blossom is used as a metaphor for enduring love.
Origin And History
A Baby’s breath bouquetalso symbolizes innocence, making it a thoughtful gesture to include it in gifts for new mothers and baby showers. There is no definitive answer to this question, to put it briefly. According to dictionaries, the term “baby’s breath” was first used between 1885 and 1890. Given that these blooms are tiny and fragile, the name might merely reflect their faint accent. Gypsophila paniculata is the flower’s name, while the “paniculata” part refers to the flower’s growth pattern, which is “tufted” or in branching clusters called panicles. Gypsophila is the name of this plant’s genus since its native environment frequently has gypsum-rich (chalky) soils.
It’s pretty simple to cultivate a baby’s breath if you can plant it (see the crucial paragraph below). Gypsophila paniculata is the variety grown most frequently and most frequently seen in flower shops. The exquisite white flowers most well-known to us are found in this species. Gypsophila Elegans is a cultivar with considerably bigger blooms, which you could prefer. Unlike Gypsophila elegans, which must be replanted yearly, Gypsophila paniculata is a perennial that can grow in USDA zones 3 through 9. Both spring and summer are when they are in flower. Though they can thrive with as little as four hours of direct sunlight daily, this plant prefers full sun. They might not bloom as much or get as big in part shade, though.
Baby’s breath can be grown from either seeds or seedlings you buy from your neighborhood greenhouse. When starting from seed, once all threat of frost has gone, start inside or direct-sow seeds in the garden. The seeds should be placed about nine inches apart, with a quarter-inch of dirt covering each one. After germination, which will take around ten days, they will need six to eight weeks before they are ready to be transferred into the garden. It’s ok to begin hardening them off after they have two pairs of true leaves; progressively bring them outside for longer each day until they are prepared to be planted.
