An easy to care for, sweetly-scented addition to your garden.
The Spruce / Kara Riley
Sweet alyssummakes a colorful carpet of tiny flowers to blanket your garden or landscape.
Its gray-green leaves are slightly hairy, narrow, and lance-shaped.
The Spruce / Kara Riley
Most varieties will fade in the heat but bloom again in the fall.
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 Spruce / Kara Riley
The tight, free-flowering plants are also great “spillers” for hanging baskets and containers.
Light
Sweet alyssum lovesfull 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.
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Aim to plant your sweet alyssum where it receives six to eight hours of sunlight a day.
Soil
Sweet alyssum plants prefersoilthat is moist and well-draining.
They’re tolerant of many different planting locations, including sandy beaches and dunes.
The Spruce / Kara Riley
In boggy soil or insufficient drainage, on the other hand, the plant will do poorly.
The water should drain well.
Alyssum is somewhat frost-tolerant once established, but tender transplants are not hardy enough for frost.
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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 awater-soluble, well-balanced fertilizer.
When starting seeds, add a time-release fertilizer to the soil at planting.
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When blooms are spent, apply again to stimulate new growth.
Too much fertilizer tends to cause lush foliage and reduced blooms.
If you have a significant drift of plants, shearing them by one-third is an easier option than deadheading.
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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.
Potting and Repotting Sweet Alyssum
Sweet alyssum grows well in containers.
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Leave at least two inches between the soil line and the container’s rim.
Alternatively, leave it untouched.
It’s key to prevent overwatering with these plants.
Bloom Months
June to October are the best months to see sweet alyssum in full bloom.
How Long Does Sweet Alyssum Bloom?
It takes about two months for a seed to germinate, grow, and bloom.
In certain regions, it will bloom all summer.
Although many varieties may stop flowering in heat, sweet alyssum plants bloom repeatedly.
They will likely pick up again in the fall.
What Do Sweet Alyssum’s Flowers Look and Smell Like?
Its tiny flowers grow together in close clusters and are white, pink, and purple.
They will self-sow and provide bright colors year after year in milder climates.
Deadheading Sweet Alyssum Flowers
Deadheading sweet alyssum will keep the plants flowering and set new buds quickly.
However, growing rampantly outside of ideal conditions is more difficult.
Alyssum does not tolerate intense heat well.
Give the plant extra water, but ensure the soil drains well and efficiently.
In hot weather, you should expect wilting.
The plant may rebound in the fall when the temperatures drop.
Apply neem oil or insecticidal soap to rid your plant of an infestation.
Yellowing Leaves
There are many different possible causes for yellowing leaves: a spike in temperatures.
transplant shock, lack of water, or poor soil nutrients.
have a go at identify the cause as early as possible before the entire plant is affected.
Place it on a sunny or partially shady windowsill.
Sweet alyssum prefers cooler temperatures, so avoid locations near heat sources.
A non-invasive alternative to sweet alyssum iscreeping phlox, which is native to North America.
Similar to sweet alyssum, it is a low-growing, mat-forming plant.
Lobularia maritima.California Invasive Plant Council.
North Carolina State Extension.
Broad mitePolyphagotarsonemus latus and cyclamen mitePhytonemus pallidus.
University of California, Agriculture & Natural Resources.
