Specialty Gardening: Adding some zing, pop & pizzazz to a color scheme?, 1 by tabasco

tabasco wrote:

I know, Gem, whatever this white flower is, it's pretty and fun to have because of the early bloom time, but the name is elusive. Here's my research on it so far (Everyone, please skip this post if you aren't deathly interested in finding the ID on the white flower! LOL):

Two springs ago this white flower came up in the garden blooming with the tall bearded iris. I liked it a lot but couldn't recall if I planted this particular seed or if this was some kind of wild flower/weed---that year I went seed crazy and ordered a wide range of packets (valueseeds, Diane's seeds, Select Seeds and some from the racks at the big box stores) whose flowers were new to me. Many I just direct sowed into the garden never thinking they would germinate. (Quite a pessimist.)

Then in the spring these pretty flowers showed up in early May and I really lked it and I went through all my seed lists in my journal (which you are welcome to sleuth through too) to try to ID the seed. With no luck.

I do like Alyssum and I often sprinkle the seeds through my garden and these particular flower heads look like white alyssum but the plant is 2 feet tall now and started blooming in May. The only alyssums I know are very short and some are called 'trailing' though these stand up straight and bloom a bit later. I did find an Alyssum seed called 'maritime' at Walmart for 10 cents and the seed packet said it grew to 10 inches (not 2 feet or more like mine). That is the closest I've come to IDing it. I did put the pic on the Plant ID forum but nobody really got close (in my opinion) to IDing it.

I have googled like crazy on it but no luck. I suspect the seed was a Ferry Morse seed packaged under the Walmart label. I know Ferry Morse is a European/french or Italian owned company and maybe the seed is from a European strain of alyssum not generally available here... Anyway, it should be. I love it and everyone who sees it in the garden wants to know about it.

I will try to harvest some seeds and I am happy to share them with anyone who wants a pretty white flower that blooms with early tall bearded iris and late tulips (mid May).

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!! (-: