Plant · P-125

Sweet Alyssum

Lobularia maritima

Sweet alyssum is a low, fast-spreading annual grown mainly to draw and hold hoverflies, whose larvae eat aphids, thrips, scale and small caterpillars. Research on organic lettuce found that scattering a modest number of plants through a crop keeps enough hoverflies around to control aphids without hurting yield. Ordinary seed-grown alyssum is a cool-season plant that fades in hot weather, but a heat-tolerant hybrid bred for southern summers stays fresh through the hottest months - at the cost of being sold only as rooted cuttings rather than seed, so it must be rebought every year. The leaves and flowers are also edible with a pungent, peppery bite, though the yield is a garnish rather than a crop.