Ornamental · Scrophulariaceae
Bacopa
Sutera cordata
Keep it steadily watered in sun or light shade, and bacopa cascades with white bloom from summer to frost.
Partial sun
Every 1–3 days
USDA 9–11
3–6 in · 8–15 cm
Overview
Bacopa is a low, trailing annual that tumbles over the lip of a basket or window box in a curtain of small flowers. It sits in the figwort family and hails from South Africa, where it spreads along moist, shaded banks. Out in the garden it pulls double duty as a filler and spiller, threading between taller plants and softening the edge of any container.
The flowers steal the show. Tiny five-petaled blooms, most often white, unfurl along the trailing stems and keep arriving from early summer until frost. Most types open white, but hunt around and you will turn up lilac, pale blue, and scarlet red named cultivars when you want a change from the standard.
It asks for next to nothing, save the one thing it refuses to bend on, which is water. Hand bacopa even, steady moisture and a spot with morning sun or light shade, and it races into growth and flowers without a break. Let it dry out, even for a moment, and it pays you back by dropping its buds and going quiet until you put things right.
Care
The short version: part sun to light shade, with steady, even moisture that never dries out, planted in rich, well-drained soil and fed a balanced liquid feed through the growing season.
Light
Bacopa thrives in partial sun, at its best with morning light and a touch of afternoon shade. It will handle full sun where summers stay mild, but in true heat that means keeping an eye on the soil, since strong sun dries a container fast.
Water
This is the line bacopa won't let you cross. Hold the soil uniformly moist at all times and never let it parch, or the buds drop and blooming grinds to a stop. In hot weather, and above all in a hanging basket, that often calls for watering every day.
Soil
Plant into moist but well-drained ground, be it loam, clay, or sand, and stir some organic matter into a container mix to lock in moisture. Bacopa stays relaxed about pH, accepting anything from 6.0 to 8.0.
Humidity
Plain outdoor humidity suits it just fine, so there's no figure to chase. Steady soil moisture counts far more than the air, and brisk airflow around the stems keeps powdery mildew from gaining a foothold.
Feeding
Pour on a balanced, all-purpose liquid fertilizer roughly once a month through the growing season to keep the flowers rolling in. Go light, mind you, since too much feed pumps out leaves instead of blooms.
Pruning
When the stems stretch leggy or flop out of shape, shear them back during the growing season. A trim sparks fresh growth and a second wave of flowers, so cut hard without hesitation when the plant looks spent.
Size & spacing
Bacopa hugs the ground, just 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 cm) tall, yet trails wide to a spread of 12 to 24 inches (30 to 61 cm). Hand each plant the room to cascade so it can drape a basket edge or run between its neighbors.
When to plant
Bacopa runs on warmth and caves to the first frost. Sow seed indoors in late winter, move the plants outside once the cold lifts in spring, and watch it flower from early summer clear through fall until frost calls time on the display.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: Start seed indoors in late winter to early spring, about 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost.
- Plant: Set out after danger of frost has passed in spring, once soil and air have warmed.
- Harvest: Blooms summer through fall (roughly June to October).
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 9–11
Temperature: down to -7°C
Troubleshooting
Nearly every bacopa problem circles back to water, either too little or too much. Train yourself to read the early tells on the flowers and stems and you can jump in before a small slip becomes a dead plant. Match what you spot below, then move while it still counts.
Yellow leaves, soft stems, and a plant that folds
Flood the roots with water that can't escape and you invite root and stem rot, which takes a soggy bacopa down quickly. Scrape away the surface and the roots pull up brown and squishy while the soil stays sodden. Fix the drainage and pull back on watering, repot into fresh mix if you spot it early, and toss any plant that has already turned to mush.
Fix:
- Improve drainage and stop overwatering
- Remove and discard severely rotted plants
- Repot into fresh, well-drained mix if caught early
Bloom shuts off and the buds let go
This points straight to dry soil, not a hunger problem. Let the root zone parch even one time and bacopa drops its buds and stops flowering until water returns. Get back on an even watering rhythm, soak it daily through the heat, and pack in mulch or a moisture-holding mix so the soil never bakes again.
Fix:
- Resume consistent, even watering to keep the soil uniformly moist
- Water daily during hot summer weather
- Mulch or use a moisture-retentive container mix to buffer drying
A chalky white dusting across leaves and stems
That coating is powdery mildew, a fungus that moves in when plants pack together and the air sits still. Loosen up the planting to get air moving, pull off the worst leaves, and keep water off the foliage late in the day so it never sits damp overnight.
Fix:
- Improve air circulation around the plant
- Remove affected foliage
- Avoid overhead watering late in the day
Curled fresh growth or a tacky coat on the leaves
Twisted tips, faint speckling, and a sticky film all flag sap-feeding pests such as aphids, thrips, or whiteflies. Flip a few leaves and scan the growing tips for tiny bugs or honeydew. Knock them loose with a hard jet of water first, reach for insecticidal soap if they cling on, and snip away any growth that is badly overrun.
Fix:
- Rinse plants with a strong spray of water
- Treat with insecticidal soap if infestations persist
- Monitor regularly and remove heavily infested growth
Toxicity
Cheering news for homes with pets and small children: garden bacopa is not toxic. The ASPCA leaves it off the roster of plants that harm cats or dogs, and no danger is known to other animals or to people. A stray nibble is nothing to fret over.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Garden bacopa never made the ASPCA toxic list, so a curious cat that chews on a trailing stem has nothing to fear from it.
Dogs None
A dog can sniff or chomp a leaf with zero worry, because this plant carries no known toxins for them.
Horses Safe
Nothing here troubles a horse. It grows as a low trailing ornamental, not the sort of thing a grazing horse would reach out in a pasture.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits can graze bacopa with no harm, though they may treat the soft foliage as a treat and leave you short on flowers.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep run no poisoning risk from this plant, which lives in baskets and beds well clear of grazing ground anyway.
Birds Safe
Bacopa holds no danger for birds. Backyard hens and wild visitors can peck around it as they please.
People Safe
The plant does people no harm. Nobody grows it to eat, but a child who samples a leaf will be perfectly fine.
Varieties
Most bacopa on the shelf is a named cultivar rather than the plain species, and they split apart on flower size, color, and habit. Here are the ones worth recognizing by name.
Snowflake
The runaway favorite among growers, a trailer that carries small toothed green leaves and airy sprays of white flowers.
Snowstorm
A tighter, more compact grower that opens flowers clearly bigger than the wild species.
Calypso Jumbo White
A trailing pick that climbs to 4 to 6 inches tall with a 14 to 16 inch spread and large white blooms.
Blue Showers
Breaks from the pack by flowering in lilac to pale blue instead of the usual white.
African Sunset
Climbs more upright than its relatives and pops open small scarlet red flowers.
How to propagate
Bacopa multiplies with ease, whether you snip cuttings from a plant already in hand or raise the species from seed.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Take cuttings from spring to early summer. · Roots typically form in a few weeks under warm, moist conditions.
Cuttings are how growers keep named cultivars true to type. Snip them from spring into early summer, hold them warm and moist, and they strike roots within a few weeks into plants that match the parent exactly.
SeedModerate
Sow in spring, indoors in late winter for transplants. · Several weeks to germinate and grow on before transplanting.
Seed gets you the plain species, but it runs slower, asking several weeks to germinate and grow on before transplanting. Start it indoors in late winter for spring transplants, and keep in mind that named cultivars come from cuttings instead.
Myths
Garden bacopa is the same medicinal herb sold as a brain or memory supplement.
Not so. The supplement is Bacopa monnieri, also known as water hyssop, an aquatic plant of an entirely separate kind. The trailing bacopa filling your basket is Sutera cordata, an ornamental annual with no medicinal use whatsoever.
Bacopa is drought tolerant and fine to let dry out between waterings.
Quite the opposite. Let bacopa parch and the buds tumble and the flowers quit. It craves steady, even moisture, which often means reaching for the watering can every day through the summer heat.