Flowers for late winter and spring colour

Looking for annuals to get some colour into your garden? Alyssum is one of Penny’s favourites — for many reasons.

Alyssum Lobularia maritima

Also known as sweet alyssum or sweet Alice, this low-growing annual will often self-sow, with new plants popping up nearby for several years. Sweetly scented, flower colours range through white, pink, blue and purple. Give plants reasonably good, well-drained soil and they will thrive in most positions. I love alyssum because it’s such a good beneficial insect attractor and it’s diminutive size means it can be planted into pots, under fruit trees or scattered through vegie beds without creating too much competition. Washington State University scientists planted alyssum under apple trees and found these flowers dramatically decreased troublesome woolly aphid numbers, by attracting a range of insects from hoverflies to spiders, all of which fed on the aphids.

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