I never knew that Sweet Allysum smelled like honey. For the last few days I had been catching the scent of honey as I went in or out of the front door and wondered where it was coming from. My first thought was that the neighbor was using a different brand of dryer sheet. Her dryer vent is on the side of her house across from our bedrooms and we always know when she is doing laundry, the scent is fine but sometimes a little too strong so I was thinking this dryer sheet scent is much better. Yesterday I was dead heading the red Geranium that is sharing it's pot this year with some Allysum and happened to brush my hand across the white blooms and there was that honey scent. And yes, it is Oct 21st here too and yes my red Geranium is still blooming and has more buds that will open up in a few days.
I have Sweet Allysum growing at the foot of my garden arch. Every time I open the patio doors a waft of honey scent hits me and it's such an uplifting smell that it makes me feel better even if I've had a bad day. :-D All my geraniums have now been moved to the greenhouse as the temperatures are dropping and I don't want to lose them. I must try to get some red ones next years as yours is such a striking colour.
I love that combo!! Last summer I had dark red geraniums (my favorite) with that white stuff. I love the way it spills out of the pot :-D
I tried a blue plant on the other side of the geranium, can't remember what it was now, but it didn't last very long. I'll try that again next year. This is the second year for that geranium. It stayed out all winter and even tho we did have some freezing temps it came thru just fine.
Lovely planter! We grow the alyssum mostly for the scent, but we also like to plant red and blue with it like you did. I use lobelia on the edge, then something red like verbena or geranium, and I fill the gaps with white alyssum. They never let me down, and will even self-seed.
Lobelia!!, that's what I planted in there for the blue. I don't know what happened to it but it didn't last long. Might not have gotten the sun it needed since the geranium put it in the shade.
You might not have done anything wrong with the Lobelia. Mine look healthy, with lots of blooms, and then they suddenly collapse for me. It's as if they find out they've done enough. The Lobelia in the May 17th planter didn't get much sun at all, just a bit in the morning, and it kept blooming until mid-July when it suddenly died. I really like the thought of what we use here is also used in Texas.
I really like that planter. I think i'll have to try that allysum. I bought lobelia back in May or June and when it started to get cold here last month i brought it in. Its still blooming for me. looks a little rugged, but its still getting really tall with new growth.
I didn't know that sweet allysum was a scented flower. I love scented flowers. What a pretty pairing and the pot is gorgeous. I'll have to add sweet allysum to my next seed order.
I too didn't know that allysum was scented. I did try to start some from seed but it came up very thin. I'll have to just buy plants next year. Don't you just love geraniums-I'm going to try and make some new plants over the winter.
Lovely planter, Toni. I love Alyssum and I use it some years to line a path. It's sweet smell is a bit like that of Ceanothus, I find. The very first time I smelled Alyssum was when I saw it in a graveyard in Tunisia. The entire graveyard was full of it....and what a heavenly fragrance it had.
Thanks all for you sweet comments. I have had that large tub filled with red Geraniums for several years. Droopy, I got the idea for the Allysum and Lobelia with the geranium from your May 17th planting. Sjoerd, I never thought about planting Allysum along side a path...that's going on my 'to-do' list for the front garden next year. And at the base of a couple of arches too like yours Eileen. I guess Lobelia likes the arctic region better than Texas Biita. You and I bought ours about the same time last spring and mine didn't hang around even a month.
Toni that is a pretty combo. And I am sure that with the blue in there, that will make it really gorgeous. Very patriotic!
