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Brassicaceae
Sweet Alyssum
Lobularia maritima
Worth beyond beauty, sweetness, simple pleasure.
- Family
- Brassicaceae
- Genus
- Lobularia
- Native to
- Mediterranean, Macaronesia
- Bloom season
- Spring, Summer, Fall
- Type
- Annual or short-lived perennial
- Height
- 5–25 cm
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low to moderate
- Hardiness
- Annual; perennial in 9–11
- Lifespan
- One season
Did you know
- Sweet alyssum produces a soft honey-and-vanilla fragrance that drifts on warm afternoons and is one of the most beloved scents in the cottage garden.
- The tiny four-petaled flowers grow in such dense clusters that a healthy plant looks like a sweet-smelling cloud or carpet.
- It's a magnet for hover flies, parasitic wasps, and other beneficial insects that prey on aphids and pests — making it a popular companion plant in vegetable gardens.
- Despite the name, sweet alyssum was reclassified out of the genus Alyssum and into Lobularia, but the old common name has stuck.
- It blooms continuously from cool spring weather right up until hard frost, asking almost nothing in return except a little water during droughts.
Color meanings
White
Honest charm