Ornamental · Scrophulariaceae
Bacopa
Sutera cordata
Keep it steadily watered in sun or light shade, and bacopa spills out 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 pours over the edge of a basket or window box in a sheet of small flowers. It belongs to the figwort family and comes from South Africa, where it grows along moist, shady banks. In the garden it earns its keep as a filler and spiller, weaving between taller plants and softening the rim of any container.
The flowers are the draw. Tiny five-petaled blooms, most often white, open along the trailing stems and keep coming from early summer until frost. Most types flower white, but you can also find lilac, pale blue, and scarlet red named cultivars if you want something other than the standard.
It asks for little beyond one thing it won't compromise on, which is water. Give bacopa even, steady moisture and a spot with morning sun or light shade, and it grows fast and blooms without a pause. Let it dry out, even briefly, and it punishes you by dropping its buds and going quiet until you set it 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 does best in partial sun, happiest with morning light and a little afternoon shade. It will take full sun where summers stay mild, but in real heat that means watching the soil closely, since strong sun dries a container out fast.
Water
This is the one thing bacopa won't forgive. Keep the soil uniformly moist at all times and never let it dry out, or the buds drop and blooming halts. In hot weather, and especially in a hanging basket, that often means watering every day.
Soil
Plant in moist but well-drained ground, whether loam, clay, or sand, and work some organic matter into a container mix to hold moisture. Bacopa is easygoing about pH, taking anything from 6.0 to 8.0.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity suits it fine, so there's no number to fuss over. Steady soil moisture matters far more than the air, and good airflow around the stems keeps powdery mildew from taking hold.
Feeding
Feed a balanced, all-purpose liquid fertilizer about once a month through the growing season to keep the flowers coming. Go easy, though, since too much feed grows leaves instead of blooms.
Pruning
If the stems run leggy or sprawl out of shape, shear them back during the growing season. A trim brings on fresh growth and a second flush of flowers, so don't be shy about cutting it hard when it gets tired.
Size & spacing
Bacopa stays low, just 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 cm) tall, but trails wide to a spread of 12 to 24 inches (30 to 61 cm). Give each plant room to cascade so it can fill a basket edge or run between its neighbors.
When to plant
Bacopa wants warmth and won't tolerate frost. Start seed indoors in late winter, set the plants out once the cold has passed in spring, and it flowers from early summer right through fall until the first frost ends the show.
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
Almost everything that goes wrong with bacopa traces back to water, either too little or too much. Learn to read the early signs on the flowers and stems and you can step in before a small slip turns into a lost plant. Match what you see below, then act while it still helps.
Yellowing, mushy stems, and a plant that caves in
Too much water with nowhere to drain leads to root and stem rot, and a soggy bacopa drowns fast. Dig down and the roots come up brown and soft while the soil sits waterlogged. Fix the drainage and ease off watering, repot into fresh mix if you catch it early, and bin any plant that has already gone to mush.
Fix:
- Improve drainage and stop overwatering
- Remove and discard severely rotted plants
- Repot into fresh, well-drained mix if caught early
Blooming stops and the buds drop off
This is the classic sign of dry soil, not a feeding problem. When the root zone dries out, even once, bacopa sheds its buds and quits flowering until moisture comes back. Resume even watering, soak it daily through hot weather, and add 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 dusty white film over the leaves and stems
That powder is powdery mildew, a fungus that settles in when plants crowd together and the air goes still. Open up the planting for better airflow, strip off the worst leaves, and keep water off the foliage late in the day so it doesn't sit wet overnight.
Fix:
- Improve air circulation around the plant
- Remove affected foliage
- Avoid overhead watering late in the day
Twisted new growth or a sticky film on the leaves
Warped tips, fine speckling, and a sticky coating point to sap-feeding pests like aphids, thrips, or whiteflies. Turn a few leaves over and check the growing tips for tiny insects or honeydew. Blast them off with a hard spray of water first, follow up with insecticidal soap if they hang on, and cut away any growth that's badly infested.
Fix:
- Rinse plants with a strong spray of water
- Treat with insecticidal soap if infestations persist
- Monitor regularly and remove heavily infested growth
Toxicity
Good news for households with pets and small children: garden bacopa is not toxic. The ASPCA doesn't list it among plants that harm cats or dogs, and there's no known danger to other animals or to people. A stray nibble is nothing to lose sleep over.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Garden bacopa isn't on the ASPCA toxic list, so a curious cat that nibbles a trailing stem has nothing to fear from it.
Dogs None
A dog can sniff around or chew a leaf without any worry, since this plant carries no known toxins for them.
Horses Safe
Nothing here harms a horse. It's a low trailing ornamental rather than anything a grazing horse would normally reach in a pasture.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits can browse bacopa without trouble, though they may treat the soft foliage as a snack and leave you fewer flowers.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep face no poisoning risk from this plant, which is grown in baskets and beds well away from grazing ground anyway.
Birds Safe
Bacopa poses no danger to birds. Backyard hens and wild visitors can peck around it freely.
People Safe
The plant is harmless to people. It isn't grown to eat, but a child who tastes a leaf will come to no harm from it.
Varieties
Most bacopa sold is a named cultivar rather than the plain species, and they vary in flower size, color, and habit. These are the ones worth knowing by name.
Snowflake
The most widely grown cultivar, a trailer with small toothed green leaves and loose sprays of white flowers.
Snowstorm
A more compact plant that carries noticeably larger flowers than the wild species.
Calypso Jumbo White
A trailing type reaching 4 to 6 inches tall with a 14 to 16 inch spread and big white blooms.
Blue Showers
Stands out by flowering in lilac to pale blue rather than the usual white.
African Sunset
Grows more upright than its cousins and opens small scarlet red flowers.
How to propagate
Bacopa is easy to multiply, whether you take cuttings off a plant you already grow or start 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 the usual way to grow named cultivars true to type. Take them from spring into early summer, keep them warm and moist, and they root within a few weeks into plants identical to the parent.
SeedModerate
Sow in spring, indoors in late winter for transplants. · Several weeks to germinate and grow on before transplanting.
Seed works for the plain species, but it's the slower route, taking several weeks to germinate and grow on before transplanting. Sow indoors in late winter for spring transplants, and remember that named cultivars are propagated from cuttings instead.
Myths
Garden bacopa is the same medicinal herb sold as a brain or memory supplement.
The supplement is Bacopa monnieri, also called water hyssop, an aquatic plant of a different kind. The trailing bacopa in your basket is Sutera cordata, an ornamental annual with no medicinal use at all.
Bacopa is drought tolerant and fine to let dry out between waterings.
Far from it. Let bacopa go dry and the buds drop and the flowers stop. It wants steady, even moisture, which often means watering every day in the heat of summer.