Eastern WA it is an invasive weed.

Whats the coastal version of that plant, with the blue flowers? I have that one. Its a bit of a handful and self-seeds, er, freely.

Steve, I was referencing the perennial gypsophila paniculata -- sorry, should have specified. Dan and David52, you've steered me away from it. Thanks!

Hi CT,

I was wondering too what kind you were asking about. It's been several years now, but I grew/had a G. p. that I grew from seed. It was a tall double white one. It bloomed at least two years--had it probably a total of 4 years--and I never had any problem at all with it spreading, and definitely not with it being invasive or reseeding. The clump did definitely get bigger each year, but no faster than something like a Shasta daisy. I just decided I didn't like it and gave it away at one of our swaps! I don't know if it was because of the seed I got, or if it was because I didn't have enough sun for it, but the "flowers" were so small they couldn't even be "identified" as "flowers," IMO, and it tended to "flop" all over the place--like Russian sage or Agastache--and with my limited space that just didn't work for me! I told the people at the swap about my experience with it, and never heard any more about it, so I don't know what they thought of it after it got going for them!

But if all you're worried about is it being "invasive," I'd say go for it! Depending on the variety you get and your growing conditions, you could have a much "nicer" plant than I did!

Completely different, but a Gypsophila I really love is G. repens, creeping baby's breath! The pink, especially, is really pretty, but the white is pretty too! And that's one that I wish WOULD spread more! The stems that grow and bloom every year just lay on top of the mulch/soil and don't seem to ever root--and I've actually buried them in the soil a few times trying to get them to root! Would love to be able to get some rooted pieces to give away at our swaps, but the original plant never seems to get much larger either, so, after probably 5-6 years I'm left pretty much with what I started with at the end of the year when it goes dormant and I cut it back! If the flowers on the tall one I had looked anything even close to the flowers on the repens, I would have LOVED it!

Welcome to RMG,
Skybird

I accidentally ended up with a white single bloom -- wanted three guara, but ended up with only two plus the gypsophila. Need to pay closer attention to plant tags next time! Think I'll bestow the gypso on a friend who tends to be somewhat neglectful of her plants -- I'll bet low watering and lack of fertilization will prevent it from flopping in her yard. :-) Thanks, Skybird.

If you check the Colorado Weed Management Association website, you'll see that Gypsophilia paniculata is on the watch list, meaning that it's not yet fully understood whether the plant could be invasive in Colorado. Personally, I would shy away from it. There are plenty of other great plants out there.Colorado Weed Management Association

Denver Blossom, thanks! I didn't even know about this website ... but have already bookmarked it in my gardening resources. Thanks again.

Thanks for being a responsible gardener, ct9004!

I'll add your blog to my bookmarks, too, Colorado_Plantswoman. :-)

Thanks! May I call you ct, for short ;-)

Wow! That’s a new one
on me! I try to keep up on the Noxious
Weed lists, but I’ve been out of the industry for a long time now and had no
idea any of the Gypsophilas were on any
of the lists.

CT, since you’re careful about what you plant, here are a couple
more Noxious Weed sites you might find helpful.
The first I found recently and it’s really good for anyone who’s not
sure of what they have or are trying to look up. It has pics of ALL of the plants on the
Colorado lists. The problem with this
one, for me at least, is that they only
list them by the common names so it takes longer to look over the entire list
to be sure you don’t miss something!

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/agconservation/noxious-weed-species

And this site, invasive.org, has a lot of good info, AND you
can click the column headings to look at the lists by common or botanical
name. Then if you click on an individual
plant you get specific info and pics, and there are maps on the bottom showing
which states it’s listed in, and another map showing county distribution (with
a disclaimer that’s it’s not “complete”).

http://www.invasive.org/species/list.cfm?id=32

This is the USDA list for Colorado, again you can use it by
common or botanical name, but this one only has the A, B, C lists and not the
watch list!

http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxious?rptType=State&statefips=08

Thanks for the heads up about the Gypsophila, Colorado
Plantswoman.

Skybird

You're welcome, Skybird. Last year, I attended a talk at Denver Botanic Gardens by Cecily Mui, noxious weed specialist at the CO Dept. of Agriculture. It was an eye-opener.

Wow! What an awesome community. Thanks again to Skybird, and yes, CP, call me CT.