Last night in my Master Gardener's class, we were learning about different perennials that grow good here in UT and everyone was sharing their experience with different plants.
Junipers beard came up and the overwhelming concensus was Juniper's Beard(centranthus)-scientific name is "C. ruber". was not a good plant to have.
It is very invasive.
It does make a good ground cover.... but you will end up with an entire yard of it... and so will your neighbors!

In your defense it sounds pretty... is evergreen... and tolerates drought conditions...

Good luck in your search...I will keep my eye out as I go to nurseries also and let you know if I find the white variety.
When you find it, just make sure to keep dividing to keep ahead of the take over! :-)

Just to clarify--- the first e-mail talks about Jupiter's Beard; the second e-mail talks about Juniper's Beard. Is it a typo and you're both talking about the same plant? Or, are there 2 different plants involved?

I have Jupiter's Beard in my yard (just a few plants), that are perennials and die back each fall. It's not an evergreen plant. So, I'm thinking that maybe these are 2 different plants?

Hi Beth!
The jupiter's beard that I am talking about is also known as Centranthus, the scientific name is "C. Ruber"

Quite often, people will call one plant one name, and another person might call a different plant by that same name too.
They will go on about their same plant, til one goes, well mine doesn't do that, or finally they say... "Wait, what plant are you talking about" The name might be the same, but it is a common name.
Then when they tell the scientific name, it is a different plant altogether that each are talking about.

It happens with people sometimes,,, like john smith,.. you both find you know a John Smith that lived in Baltimore, as you share stories about John, one will say, I did not know John played football in High School... then think to themself, gosh, john always seemed more like a band geek to me. As the conversation goes on, one will say, "Wait! I do not think we are talking about the same guy!" Sure enough there are two John Smiths in Baltimore, but not the same John Smith.

Same happens with plants...
take a sample of your Juniper's beard to the Extention Office near you and have them tell you which "John Smith" you have.
It maybe just a variety of Juniper's beard that is not evergreen.

Thanks so much for the explanation, Songbird. I Googled "Centranthus" and read with interest the info. I do have this plant in my garden in 2 different locations. A total of 5 plants. While it is lovely, it does have the negative side, as you said, of being very invasive "in mild climates". I'm not going to take any chances, so I'll dead-head all the flowers, hoping to ensure it does not volunteer. I planted it last year, and may have planted it where it's too shady as one of the plants - as of now - has not yet come up.

I'm so glad you wrote about this as I'll watch this plant like a hawk. If I can keep it under control, I'll keep it in my beds. If I can't, I'll pull it out. I WISH the blurbs that come with the plants you buy would say things like "tendency to be invasive" so we could purchase wisely. And I buy my plants at a nursery, hoping to stack the deck in my favor in terms of buying plants appropriate to Utah's climate.

Now that you are aware that plants can be invasive, I suspect you will be more educated when it comes to plant selection.
It took me years(and I still have a long way to go) to learn about the different varieties of plants, their common and their scientific name, what their requirements for sun/shade, water, soil conditions...

I know what areas in my yard have different needs and requirements, so when I shop for plants, I do impulse buy still....
but I go with a specific plant in mind.

Currently I am looking for a lavender that will grow tall and wide to hide pool pump.
Because this area gets full sun and I wanted something that smells relaxing, lavender was a good choice... but most lavender prefer drier well drained soils...
so I am going to have to add alot of sand to this area and pray it will survive the kids tidal waves attacking it!

Would another plant work better there... maybe...
but gardening is alot of trial and error... and this is what I want to try... and hopefully succeed!

Have a great gardening day!

I have one plant of c. ruber in my back yard. It has got to be one of the wimpiest plants I have. The plant makes it to about 18 inches tall and flowers very well in the spring. After that it just sits there all summer. I have it growing in full sun in sandy unamended soil which can get quite dry between waterings. Maybe it wants a better soil.