It's hard for us now to look back and realize what an improvement Snow Crystals was over all other Sweet Alyssum varieties when it arrived on the scene in 1988. Until Snow Crystals, Sweet Alyssum was a rather delicate annual, nicely fragrant and everything but short-blooming and subject to fall apart a bit when faced with rough wind or high heat. You grew it in a container with the full expectation that it would bloom for a few weeks and then you'd replace it, around about July, with something tougher for the high heat and humidity of the dog days.

Then Snow Crystals changed everything. It was the first tetraploid Sweet Alyssum, which means that it has twice the chromosomes of older (diploid) varieties. Twice the chromosomes means LOTS more vigor, as well as specific improvements such as much greater heat and wind tolerance, larger flower size, and longer staying power. Suddenly you could create edging or even groundcover with Sweet Alyssum, because Snow Crystals all reach the same size, bloom at the same time, and stay put in all their glory for months, not weeks.

Snow Crystals was immediately awarded the Fleuroselect Gold Medal (an honor not often bestowed!), and it has never been improved upon. How could it be, really? These -inch white blooms are so profuse that they form a neat canopy of color over the fresh green foliage. Their scent is ultra-sweet and pleasing, and lasts all season. They open in early summer and continue through the season everywhere, and often into autumn. And they form neat plants, just a few inches high when not in bloom but reaching up to 10 inches in flower, with a width of 8 to 10 inches too. Great in containers, beds, along the driveway, in street plantings, edging the foundation, and just about everywhere they can get full sunshine, they're trouble-free and so dependable!

Sweet Alyssum (also called Sweet Alison) is a great coastal planting, too. It loves the salt spray and doesn't mind sandier soils. It gorws readily from seed, and can be transplanted as soon as the soil has warmed and the nights are free of frost in spring. Every garden and patio container deserves this sweet-scented, pretty, pert little plant. Make Snow Crystals a central feature of your sunny spaces this season!