Lobularia maritima I can pretend can’t I? Along one walkway in my garden, Lobularia maritime (Sweet Alyssum) has taken over. I had a couple of bedding plants there a couple of years ago, and they readily reseeded and since the weather has cooled, the Sweet Alyssum has carpeted the area in white.
This common annual, used mostly as a border plant, has a wonderful sweet honey aroma that rivals the fragrance of the nearby Willow Acacia blooms. Their fragrances are so similar it’s hard to tell them apart.
Sweet Alyssum is found all over the world and surprisingly, as a member of the Brassicaceae family, it is related to such diverse plants as cabbage, radish, and watercress, as well as flowers such as stocks, candytuft, and nasturtium.
I’ve only seen white and purple Sweet Alyssum, but there are red, pink, and lavender varieties as well. White is by far the most popular. It does look kind of like snow, don’t you think?
I
5 comments:
It does look like snow! My flower bed is full of Purple, white and pink alyssum-I have not seen any red.
It DOES look like snow but snow never smelled this wonderful!
It definitely looks like snow, Aiyana...but I have to say...it's the kind of snow I much prefer to the real thing! I'll trade you Sweet Alyssum for Iowa snow any day...
Oh LOOK...it's snowing in Arizona!!!! YEAH! It is a pure white snow too!!
Julie
I had to look twice and only when reading the text I recognized the plant. Up to now I didn't smell this aroma you mentioned. I have to bend my body next Spring for smelling .... Here alyssium is quite common too!
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