Grow and Care for a Bacopa Plant

Grow bacopa in sun, in a hanging basket or a pot with a hole, and keep the mix evenly moist. Shop bacopa is Sutera. It is not water hyssop, the wetland plant.

Give it sun, a hanging basket that drains, and even moisture

bacopa is Sutera cordata, now Chaenostoma cordatum, a South African trailer with small toothed leaves and dime-sized five-lobed flowers. Sit it in sun and in mix that drains, because shade cuts bloom and a soggy saucer rots the roots. [1] It is about 3 to 8 inches tall, and the stems trail 1 to 3 feet, which is why a hanging basket or a pot on a wall shows the flowers. [2] Give it at least four to six hours of sun. A little afternoon shade helps only where pavement throws extra heat. Keep the mix evenly moist. Unlike many trailers, bacopa often drops flowers and buds before the leaves look wilted, and it can take a couple of weeks to set new buds after a dry spell. [3] In heat, check a hanging basket every day. If the liner is moss, dunk the whole basket in a pail until the mix is wet through, then let it drain. [4] The shop card MegaCopa White is this plant — same sun, even moisture, and hanging basket. Use a balanced liquid feed every one to two weeks in a pot, because hard watering washes nutrients out. Spent flowers drop on their own.

Skip deadheading — pinch only if stems get long and thin

You do not pick off every spent flower. The blooms are self-cleaning, so they drop and the next ones open. If the stems stretch and look thin, pinch the tips so side shoots fill in.

1. Wait until the plant is growing, then pinch the longest tips back by a few inches.
2. Do not strip every spent flower. Let them drop.
3. After a pinch, keep it in sun and keep the mix evenly moist, so the new shoots flower.

Grow it as a summer annual, or bring the pot in before frost

Most U.S. gardeners outside a frost-free winter grow bacopa as a summer annual and let the first freeze end it. If it is already in a pot, bring that pot into a bright room before frost and water a little less while it sits still. A more reliable way to keep the same plant is a stem cutting in late summer — see How to Propagate Bacopa. It is not a houseplant for a dim room.

After frost, set the crown level and space plants 8 to 12 inches

Set a nursery plant after the last frost, once nights stay above freeze. Dig a hole as deep as the pot, set the crown level with the soil, and water it in. In a hanging basket about 10 inches across, three plants around the rim fill out so the stems can fall.

1. Wait until nights stay above frost.
2. Set the crown even with the soil. Do not bury the stems.
3. Space bed plants 8 to 12 inches apart so the stems can trail.
4. Water them in. After that first soak, go back to keeping the mix evenly moist.

Not water hyssop — and not kitchen hyssop

Water hyssop is Bacopa, a wetland plant for wet mud or a pond shelf — see How to Grow Water Hyssop. Shop bacopa is Sutera, now Chaenostoma, a South African trailer that wants mix that drains. Read the tag for Sutera or Chaenostoma. Kitchen hyssop is Hyssopus, a woody herb — see How to Grow Hyssop. Moneywort is Lysimachia, a yellow trailer for wetter ground — see How to Grow Lysimachia.

If the mix went dry, soak it and wait for new buds. If nights will freeze and you want the same plant next year, take a cutting or bring the pot into a bright room.