Alyssum

 Alyssum

Sweet alyssum makes a colourful carpet of tiny flowers that you can use to blanket your garden or landscape. Native to Europe, the low-growing foliage grows quickly, covering the ground with tiny cross-shaped, four-petal flowers within two months of being sown from seed. Its Gray-green leaves are slightly hairy, narrow, and lance-shaped.

Easy to grow from plant or seed, sweet alyssum is a cool-season flower that can be set out in early spring once all danger of frost has passed (in frost-free climates, sweet alyssum can also be grown throughout the fall and winter). Most varieties will fade in the heat but bloom again in the fall. It is an invasive plant in California and can grow aggressively in other parts of the United States.

Sweet Alyssum Care

Sweet alyssum is nearly unmatched for ease of care. It tolerates cool temperatures. And though it may slow flowering during summer's heat, it bursts into bloom again when temperatures cool.

The flowers have a lively, honey-like fragrance and are related to cabbage and mustard. They will self-sow and provide bright colours year after year in milder climates. Sweet alyssum is generally problem-free, although aphids will arrive on the scene when the plants under stress.

As sweet alyssum plants spread, they create a living mulch under taller plants. Use sweet alyssum along edges in the garden or fill nooks and crannies on walkways and walls. The tight, free-flowering plants are also great "spillers" for hanging baskets and containers.

Light

Sweet alyssum loves full sun, but it does not like prolonged dry periods. If your region is sweltering and dry, an area with afternoon shade will work best for this plant. Aim to plant your sweet alyssum somewhere where it can get six to eight hours of sunlight a day.

Soil

Sweet alyssum plants prefer soil that is moist and well-draining. They're tolerant of many different planting locations and on sandy beaches and dunes. It can also grow on cultivated fields, walls, slopes, and even in cracks in sidewalks or walls. The plants will do poorly in boggy soil or where drainage is problematic.

Water

Provide your sweet alyssum plants with at least an inch of water every week, watering them more frequently during hot weather days or dry spells. The water should drain well. If you plant your sweet alyssum in a stony landscape (or anywhere that dries out quickly), provide extra water.

Temperature and Humidity

Gardeners can grow sweet alyssum in temperate weather all year long, although the plants are short-lived. Typically, they are vigorous self-speeders, however, hybrid varieties may not look like the parent plant. So, it may seem that the same plants are surviving all year long; the reality is that new seedlings are filling in.

Although many varieties may stop flowering in heat, sweet alyssum plants repeat bloom. They will likely pick up again in the fall. In high humidity, compensate by reducing the amount of water given to plants.

Fertilizer

Typically, in-ground sweet alyssum plants do not need fertilizer unless the soil is poor. Plants grown in containers will need monthly feedings using a water-soluble, well-balanced fertilizer. When starting seeds, add a time-release fertilizer to the soil at planting. When blooms are spent, apply again to stimulate new growth. Too much fertilizer can cause lush foliage and reduced blooms.

Types of Sweet Alyssum

There are several common varieties of sweet alyssum:

• 'Easter Bonnet': An early blooming type, typically found in lavender or white.
• 'New Carpet of Snow': A low-growing variety, covered in petite white flowers
• 'Pastel Carpet': A varietal whose blooms blend pink, lavender, and cream.
• 'Snow Crystals': A tidy, mounding variety with translucent white flowers
• 'Snow Princess': Vigorous variety that's heat tolerant with white flowers; intensely fragrant; grows up to six inches tall and five feet long.

Pruning

Deadheading sweet alyssum will keep the plants flowering and set new buds quickly. If you have a significant drift of plants, shearing them by one-third is an easier option than deadheading. Some varieties will readily re-seed themselves. The plants tend to become leggy and gangly, so pruning will keep the plants looking trim and neat.

Propagating Sweet Alyssum

It is best to grow this fast-growing plant in the early spring. It proliferates from seed. You can start the seeds indoors before the last frost and transplant them outdoors after the threat of frost has passed. Alyssum is somewhat frost-tolerant once established, but tender transplants are not hardy enough for frost.

Or you can direct sow the seeds outdoors as soon as the soil has thawed and can be worked. This plant is considered a great filler or edger plant, filling in areas where you want to fill in bare patches of soil alongside other plants. This low-growing, carpet-forming plant is not usually propagated by any other method.

How to Grow Sweet Alyssum from Seed

You can start sweet alyssum from seed or directly transplant it into your garden from nursery flats; both are widely available. To start from seed, scatter the seeds on top of the soil and press them down lightly, so they make good contact with the soil and remain exposed to light. Keep the soil moist until germination; water whenever the soil feels dry.

Potting and Repotting Sweet Alyssum

Sweet alyssum grows well in containers. When growing in containers, use good quality potting soil and ensure there are drainage holes in the bottom of the pot for excess water to seep out. It's favoured for hanging baskets or window boxes, alone or as a companion to petunias and other similar-care plants.

If transplanting, fill the container with soil, dig out a hole the size of the existing root ball, put the root ball in the hole, and fill the soil around it. Leave at least two inches between the soil line and the container's rim.

Overwintering

To overwinter alyssum, cut it down in winter, cover it with frost cloth, or take containers inside. You can also leave it untouched. It's a prolific self-seeder, so in late winter or early spring, as the ground begins to thaw, you can cut away the dead brush to make way for the seeds left behind from the previous growing season.

Common Pests & Plant Diseases

Sweet alyssum is subject to downy mildew, stem and crown rot, or general decline due to poorly draining soil. It's key to prevent overwatering with these plants.

Butterflies, pollinators, and songbirds are drawn to sweet alyssum, but they really have serious problems with other pests and diseases.¹

How to Get Sweet Alyssum to Bloom

Sweet alyssum, as its name suggests, has a sweet aroma, much like honey. Its flowers grow together in close clusters. It takes about two months for a seed to germinate, grow, and bloom. In certain regions, it will bloom all summer.

Some frost tolerant varieties bloom in spring and then again in fall. Deadheading the spent flowers will help the plant continue to bloom. Applying a water-soluble fertilizer is the best way to encourage new growth when the blooms appear.

Common Problems with Sweet Alyssum

This plant can grow invasively in warmer climates—not needing much of anything to proliferate well on its own in those areas. However, growing outside of those areas can be more difficult. These conditions include the heat index, frost or freezing temps, excessive water, poor drainage, poor soil, or not enough light.

Wilting Flowers and Foliage

If you haven't planted alyssum in well-drained soil or if it's very hot, it could wilt. Alyssum does not tolerate intense heat well. Some cultivars have been developed to tolerate hot temperatures without wilting, although the most common types will shrink during the height of summer. You can counterbalance the heat with water but ensure the soil drains well and efficiently.

Bottom line: You should expect wilting. It may rebound in the fall when the temperatures level out some. You can also cut down the wilted plant by one-third, water it, and feed it a water-soluble fertilizer to encourage new growth.

Curling Flowers and Leaves

If you notice curling flowers and foliage, inspect under the leaves and flower petals for mini sap-sucking cyclamen mites. They are hardly visible to the naked eye, appearing like tiny oval spiders if you have a magnifying glass handy. Apply neem oil or insecticidal soap to rid your plant of an infestation.²

Yellowing Leaves

If you notice your plant's leaves beginning to yellow, a spike in temperatures can be the cause; either that, transplant shock, lack of water, or poor soil nutrients. Once a plant's leaves turn yellow, that leaf is dying. One leaf or several yellow leaves is a warning sign and not necessarily a death sentence for the entire plant.

Try to isolate the cause and remedy the growing condition. Once the entire plant wilts, then flowers and foliage are dead. Cut back the plant and wait for more temperate climates or more favourable growing conditions for sweet alyssum to grow back.

Common Names	Sweet alyssum, alyssum, carpet flower
Botanical Name	Lobularia maritima
Family	Brassicaceae
Plant Type	Herbaceous perennial
Mature Size	3–10 in. tall, 2–4 in. wide
Sun Exposure	Full or partial
Soil Type	Moist but well-drained
Soil pH	Neutral to acidic
Bloom Time	Spring, fall
Flower Colour	White, pink, purple
Hardiness Zones	5–9 (USDA)
Native Areas	Europe

 

 

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