alyssum indoors or out?

[earth]

[img]https://bp3.blogger.com/_eaKbvlcIK10/SC9ydFV2YmI/AAAAAAAABpw/UlEJltuF8GY/s400/alyssum+new+carpet+of+snow+(own).jpg[/img]

Just bought alyssum last week... now I am wondering have I bought it too early? The temperature here is daytime around 55F & night is 41-42F...is this too cold for alyssum? It is raining day and night - no snow though..... also no SUN at all since days...cloudy sky!
There at Lowes it was kept out so I bought it and kept it in my covered patio..was planning to repot it soon. But now wondering should I keep it indoors - 70F temperature at home? and take it out in spring I.e in March?
pls advice.

[Kisal]

I've never planted it before April. I usually grow it from seed, though. If I put seeds out too early here, the heavy spring rains wash them away, and if it's a cool spring, the seeds just rot in the ground. Those may be things you don't have to be concerned about in your area.

[cynthia_h]

My alyssum is in the ground. It self-renews each year, or has for 12 years, to be exact.

Right now it's flowering and quite happy. There hasn't been enough (any...) sunlight for me to see whether bees are visiting--honeybees don't like going out in the rain any more than we do, and they don't have raincoats!--but I've always thought of alyssum as a "tide them over" plant for bees. Not much else is blooming around here in January. I don't know who keeps bees near me, but someone must.

I'd go ahead and put it in the ground if you're in Sunset climate zone 17. Are you?

Cynthia
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[earth]

Thanks Kisal & cynthia_h

I am in zone 9 (sunset zone 14) - Sacramento - north California.

@cynthia_h: is it o.k for me to plant it out right now...below are details of my sunset zone:

ZONE 14. Inland Northern and Central California with Some Ocean Influence
Growing season: early Mar. to mid-Nov., with rain coming in the remaining months. Periodic intrusions of marine air temper summer heat and winter cold (lows run from 26 degrees to 16 degrees F/-3 degrees to -9 degrees C). Mediterranean-climate plants are at home here.

[cynthia_h]

If you have your Western Garden Book handy, look up Lobularia maritima (Alyssum, as Sunset defines it ). The stuff seems almost bulletproof anywhere lower than about 3,000 feet in California. I wouldn't look for it to bloom in January in Truckee or Sierra City or South Lake Tahoe, but elsewhere it looks like a good bet!

Go ahead and put it in the ground. We should be getting more rain sometime to help it root well.

Cynthia

[earth]

If you have your Western Garden Book handy, look up Lobularia maritima (Alyssum, as Sunset defines it ). The stuff seems almost bulletproof anywhere lower than about 3,000 feet in California. I wouldn't look for it to bloom in January in Truckee or Sierra City or South Lake Tahoe, but elsewhere it looks like a good bet!

Go ahead and put it in the ground. We should be getting more rain sometime to help it root well.

Cynthia

YAY!!! thanks..... BTW lots of sun today all of a sudden!!

[IMSNOW]

I live in Sacramento, and have planted lots of alyssum for the first time this Feburary. Does it burn to a crisp in the summer?

[imafan26]

alyssum is a good plant for hot dry areas. I have it planted next to the driveway and it does not need a lot of water. it does self seed and it can be given a haircut to renew it. It grows as a spreading mound.