Mountain Sandwort
Mountain Sandwort

Multi Buy

Size Guide
3.5
3.5" Perennial
3 or more $6.00 ea
Regularly: $6.99 ea

Mountain Sandwort

Scott's Nursery Ltd.

$6.99
Title

Weave a blanket of pristine, snow-white elegance across your sunny garden spaces. This premier alpine groundcover forms a remarkably dense, low-growing cushion of glossy, deep-green needle foliage that becomes completely buried under a heavy sheet of large, cup-shaped blossoms. Each brilliant flower features clean, light-reflecting petals centred by a delicate yellow-green eye. It delivers an instant, crisp visual energy that beautifully updates modern rockeries, stone walls, and premium patio containers.
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Plant Details

Mature Size:

5" H x 12" W

Zone:

4-8

Watering:

Medium

Type:

Herbaceous Evergreen Perennial

Growth Rate:

Moderate

Light:

Full Sun/Partial Shade

Plant Profile

Common Names:

Mountain Sandwort, Creeping Sandwort, Alpine Sandwort

Scientific Name:

Arenaria montana

Type:

Spiller / Groundcover / Rockery Ornamental

Growth Details:

Mature Size: Grows 4 to 6 inches tall with a dense, creeping spread of 10 to 12 inches.

Growth Habit: Creeping, low-slung, mat-forming groundcover.

Form: Low-profile, dense, rounded cushion.

Growth Rate: Medium.

Flowering: Profuse sheets of large, solitary, five-petaled cup-shaped flowers.

Flowering Time: Mid-spring through early summer (Typically April to June).

Flower Colour: Crisp snow-white with a tiny yellow-green central eye.

Environmental Needs:

Exposure: Full sun to partial shade. Prefers cool morning sunlight and filtered afternoon shade.

Soil Preferences: Average, gritty, sandy, or rocky garden soils with sharp, rapid drainage.

Soil Tolerance: Highly resilient in nutrient-poor substrates, gravel, and chalky limestone; completely intolerant of stagnant, heavy winter clay, which triggers root rot.

Watering: Moderate. Allow the top few inches of soil to dry out moderately between watering sessions.

Container Role: Functions beautifully as a low, spreading Filler or an elegant, cascading Spiller over the rims of rocky planters and patio pots.

Special Features:

Disease Resistances: Highly robust; excellent natural resistance to common garden pests and leaf spots; vulnerable only to crown decay if soil drainage is poor.

Native Species: No (Native to the mountainous and rocky regions of Southwestern Europe).

Fast Growing: No (Grows steadily with a dependable, controlled habit).

Attracts: Provides a welcome, early-season nectar source for small native bees and beneficial pollinators.

Uses: Between pavement seams, rock gardens, rock wall crevices, pathway edging, and alpine patio pots.

Resistance: Highly deer-resistant and rabbit-resistant due to its dense, cushiony growth profile. Exceptional frost and freeze resistance.
Care Guide

Ornamental & Landscape Value

Seasonal Interest:

Bloom Information: Highly showy, long-lasting sheets of color that blanket the foliage for weeks on end.

Fall Colour: No change; the needle-thin foliage rosettes remain rich emerald green throughout autumn and winter.

Garden Value:

Ornamental Interest: Dense cushions of glossy, dark-green foliage topped by intense sheets of large, starburst white blossoms.

Landscaping Uses: Ideal for cascading over dry stone retaining walls, filling gaps between paving stones or path flagstones, alpine rockeries, and framing sunny border fronts.

Garden / Landscape Benefits: Highly effective, low-profile weed suppressor that handles cool, damp weather conditions and preserves a clean, manicured look year-round.

Wildlife & Human Value:

Wildlife Value: Offers critical, early-season sustenance to valuable wild insect pollinators in cool microclimates.

Human Value: Delivers exceptional, low-maintenance curb appeal and neat, year-round structural texture along hardscape lines without needing irrigation once established.

Planting & Care Guide

Planting Considerations:

Best Time To Plant: Early spring when the weather is cool and damp, or early autumn.

Spacing: Space individual starts 8 to 10 inches apart to allow the creeping branches room to root and knit a seamless carpet.

Location Tips: Position on an incline, rockery, or raised bed to guarantee flawless water drainage away from the crown during winter.

Companion Plants: Pairs magnificently with purple Creeping Phlox, dark-foliaged Heucheras, yellow Basket of Gold (Aurinia), and low-growing creeping Thymes.

Care:

Light Requirements: Thrives best in full sun to partial shade; requires protection from intense, scorching afternoon sun in exceptionally hot inland climates.

Moisture Requirements: Needs moderate, regular watering while establishing; soil should stay evenly moist but never waterlogged.

Maintenance, Fertilization: Low-maintenance. Lightly shear the plant back by one-third after the spring flowering wave finishes to remove spent seed heads and keep the green foliage cushion dense and tidy. Feed with a weak, balanced slow-release fertilizer in early spring; avoid over-fertilizing.

Tolerances:

High tolerance for early spring frost, cool damp weather, and browsing wildlife.

Tips For Success:

Thinning / Pinching: Not required, but old or large mats can be easily divided into small plugs in early spring to propagate or fill empty spots.

Support / Staking: Completely unnecessary; hugs the ground contour tightly.

Special Needs: Sharp, flawless drainage is mandatory. Wet winter soil is fatal to this species.

Mulching: Mulch strictly with fine gravel, grit, or sand around the base to protect the foliage from moisture retention. Avoid heavy bark mulches.

Winter Protection: None required; its alpine genetics allow it to survive sub-zero, snow-covered winters without taking damage.
Fruit Profile