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How to Grow Alyssum: 5 Tips for Growing Alyssum

One of the most enduring garden annuals is sweet alyssum. This old-fashioned favorite is gaining new popularity as gardeners realize the benefits of this important companion plant. Learn how to grow alyssum with these 5 tips, add beauty, and attract pollinators and beneficial insects to your garden. 


5 Tips for How to Grow Alyssum


1. Plant alyssum from seeds or transplants

How to Grow Alyssum: 5 Tips for Growing Alyssum
Alyssum seeds

Alyssum is very easy to start from seeds directly in the garden. 

Growing from seeds gives you more varieties to choose from. A few of my favorite types include: Allure Pastel BlendOriental NightsRosie O’Day, and Tiny Tim

How to Grow Alyssum: 5 Tips for Growing Alyssum

To plant alyssum from seeds outside

  • Lightly sprinkle a seed or two 6 inches apart.
  • Press seeds lightly into the soil; do not bury them as they need light to germinate.
  • Keep seeds moist (light mist) until they germinate.
  • Seeds often pop up within 2-3 days in the right conditions. 
  • Once seedlings emerge and are 2-3 inches tall, thin to 6-12 inches apart (depending on variety). 

To plant alyssum from transplant outside

  • Look for young compact transplants; overgrown transplants may not adapt as well to planting.
  • Space plants 6 -12 inches apart depending on the variety.
  • Do not let transplants dry out until they become established.

2. Choose the best location for planting alyssum

Alyssum is a low-lying spreading plant that is about 3-9 inches tall and 6-12 inches wide (depending on variety).

  • Plant alyssum in a location that gets plenty of sunlight – at least 6 hours.
  • Alyssum grows well in average soil, but it must be well-draining; it does not like wet feet.
  • Alyssum is an excellent choice for growing in containers
  • Plant alyssum along the edges of containers — as an edge of beds; a ground cover; hanging baskets; interplanted in your garden beds; or in between rows in the garden.
How to Grow Alyssum: 5 Tips for Growing Alyssum

3. Plant alyssum at the right time

Sweet alyssum is a cool-season flower that grows best in mild weather.

  • In cold-winter areas, plant after all danger of frost has passed in the spring. Most varieties will bloom through fall. 
  • In mild winter areas, plant during the fall and winter for blooms until it gets hot in the summer.
  • In the low desert of Arizona:

Start seeds indoors:
August – January
Plant seeds or transplants outside:
October – March

  • For milder zones 7-10, alyssum may grow year-round, with blooms slowing down in the summer and picking up again when temperatures cool off.

In square foot gardening, allow 1 square foot per plant. 

How to Grow Alyssum: 5 Tips for Growing Alyssum

Perpetual Annual Flower Calendar

The Perpetual Annual Flower Planting Calendar, available in my shop, helps you learn when to plant flowers in the low desert of Arizona and whether to plant seeds or transplants.


4. Use sweet alyssum to attract beneficial insects and as a companion plant

Plant alyssum as a companion plant near any aphid-prone plant in your garden (roses, lettuce, brassicas, etc.). Alyssum flowers are the nectar of choice for syrphid flies (hover flies). Syrphid-fly larvae love to eat aphids. 

How to Grow Alyssum: 5 Tips for Growing Alyssum

5. Learn how to grow alyssum and care for it as it grows

How to Grow Alyssum: 5 Tips for Growing Alyssum
  • Alyssum does best with regular water, but does not like soggy soil. 
  • Container-grown alyssum (especially hanging baskets) will need more frequent watering.
  • Deadheading isn’t necessary, but occasional light-pruning encourages fuller plants and more blooms.
  • Overwintered alyssum may get “leggy”; replant each year if desired. 
  • Feed plants that have been in the ground more than one season to encourage more blooms. 
  • Many varieties of alyssum drop seed and come back the following season.
How to Grow Alyssum: 5 Tips for Growing Alyssum
Second-season alyssum often has fewer blooms

Additional tips for alyssum:

  • Alyssum is generally disease-free but can develop root and stem rot in heavy clay soils. Discard infected plants. To prevent this, decrease watering and plant in well-drained soil or raised beds.
  • Four weeks after blooming, cut plants back by half to encourage a second flush of blooms.
  • To naturalize sweet alyssum in a new location, spread spent flower heads over bare soil.


Arizona annual flowers planting guide
 helps you learn when to plant flowers in Arizona, and whether to plant seeds or transplants.


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