Growing Water Hyssop / Herb of Grace / Bacopa Monnieri in Northeast Florida Landscapes and Butterfly Gardens
Origins and Identification of Water Hyssop / Bacopa monnieri:
Water Hyssop / Bacopa monnieri is not a true Hyssop but rather a low growing Florida native ground cover that blooms from spring to fall and is utilized by the White Peacock Butterfly as a larval host plant. It is native to all of Florida and grows wild in low lying wet areas, drainage ditches, pond banks etc, salt and freshwater marshes, along river banks and streams. It is a mat forming perennial and spreads quickly in wet soils.
It looks very similar and is often mistaken for its cousin the Lemon Bacopa ( Bacopa coroliniana) that has lemonish or lime scented foliage and more purplish blue flowers and clasping leaves. Both species are edible and have medicinal uses. Bacopa monnieri has no scent when the leaves are crushed.
Blooms and Foliage of the Water Hyssop / Bacopa monnieri plant:
Pale white to blue or even pink tinged blossoms have 5 sepals and 5 petals with a yellow center consisting of 4 stamens occurring on the plant in spring summer and fall here in Northeast Florida.
Foliage is succulent, simple, alternate or opposite on the stems and remain evergreen during winter season in central and south Florida and may die back during a hard freeze in North Florida depending on the winter temperatures. Contrary to information being parroted on the interned, it survives short duration of 32° F freezes here for me with no issues regularly which is all the winter freezes I normally get during January, and I don’t remember what happened to it when we had a year that went down to 27°F for 30 plus hours a few years back over a four day period but it is all still growing in the same places it has been for 15 years so if it affected it, the affect was short lived and plants recovered fast enough and well enough for me to not notice or think it out of the ordinary. It definitely did not die and disappear! I have just had a very different experience with this plant as far as cold tolerance goes. Leaf margins are entire venation is pinnate or palmate. Here is a video of some of mine in mid January after several forecast 32° freezes. You can clearly see all of the new growth tips had died off but for the most part the plants are still green. Did it actually get that cold? well my bananas are brown so I believe so yes.
Size of the Water Hyssop / Bacopa monnieri plant in the Northeast Florida Landscape:
Water Hyssop will spread by rooting stems into a mat that is 3-6 inches high making an ideal ground cover for wet soil areas of the landscape that other plants may fail to thrive in.
Exposure for Bacopa monnieri / Water Hyssop in Northeast Florida:
Water Hyssop can be planted into full sun or very lightly shaded areas and requires at least 6 hours of direct sun exposure to thrive.
Soil Preference | Water Needs | Salt Tolerance of Water Hyssop / Brahmi / Bacopa monnieri in NE Florida Landscapes:
Moist to we soils, poorly drained sand to clay it does not seem to be particular to anything except excess moisture. If you have well drained sandy soils in your landscape like I do consider growing your Bacopa monnieri in a decorative container with little to no drainage holes.
Drought Tolerance: low
Salt tolerance: moderate
Care and Use for Bacopa monnieri / Water Hyssop in the Northeast Florida Landscape:
This plant is so easy care as for me to say that there is nothing you need to do to care for it as long as it is in moist soils…leave it alone and let it do its thing. It can be aggressive though so if you don’t want a hostile takeover keep it away from your ponds.