Pachyphragma macrophyllum

Pachyphragma macrophyllum is one of those delightful gems for the woodland garden that few people know…probably due to its origin in Iran and Turkey. Its better known cousins in the Brassicaceae family include dentaria, cardamine, and of course, collards. The corrugated rounded green leaves begin to rise from an evergreen rosette in late winter as the plant expands to 18″ tall x 2′ wide, topped, starting for us in late March and continuing for a month, with terminal clusters of small, four-petaled, pure white flowers. Pachyphragma doesn’t seem to be particularly picky about soils, thriving in anything from slightly moist to fairly dry. In our hot summer, it goes semi-dormant. The late UK gardening guru, Beth Chatto, rated pachyphragma as one of her top woodland perennials.