Lobularia maritima (Sweet Alyssum) serves as a larval host plant for the Cabbage White and Checkered White butterflies.

Sweet Alyssum also reportedly attracts a variety of beneficial insects to the garden including:

--Ladybugs, which feed on aphids, mealybugs, soft scales, and spider mites

--Mini-wasps, which feed on aphids, armyworms, codling moths, European corn borer, flies, gypsy moths, cabbageworms, and many other caterpillars and insects

--Pirate, Damsel, and Bigeyed Bugs, which feed on a variety of insects including small caterpillars, leaf hopper nymph, spider mites, thrips, insect eggs, aphids, tarnished plant
bugs, thrips, and treehoppers

--Assassin bugs, which feed on many different caterpillars and flies

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Direct seed or set out starts of sweet alyssum near plants that have been attacked by aphids in the past. Alyssum flowers attract hoverflies whose larva devour aphids. Another plus is that their blooms draw bees to pollinate early blooming fruit trees. They will reseed freely and make a beautiful groundcover every year.
A hardy annual, native to Southern Europe, but has naturalized throughout the United States.

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Honey bees get nectar and pollen from this plant

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This short forb from southern Europe is commonly used as an annual in the northern US & southern Canada. It is sold by most every conventional garden center or nursery in the annuals section. It is cold hardy for an annual and it takes a real cold spell to kill it rather than just some frosts. It can be planted outside in early spring in March, as it loves cool weather, and also sunny. It suffers from the heat and humidity of summer or too many wet, cloudy days, but normally survives and revives in autumn and can last into December. It is often used as an edging plant along borders. I often used it as the shortest annual along edges, followed by the taller Ageratum (Floss-flower) then to Marigolds or Madagascar Vince to Red or Blue Salvias to something really tall as Cannas, Spiderflowers, or Tender Fountaingrass. The are at least 10 cultivars of Sweet Alyssum offered with flowers usually white, but pink or light lavender or purple are also available, all with the strong sweet scent, and cultivars are only about 3 to 4 inches high. 'New Carpet of Snow, Rosie O'Day (pink), and Royal Carpet' (purple) are old time favorites; but very similar newer cultivars like them are also offered.

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The fragrance of this plant is honey-like and charming, especially when wafting on a summer breeze, but it is extremely vigorous and can easily overwhelm and smother smaller plants. I planted it because it is said to attract bees and hover flies, but the bees in my area ignore it in favor of more attractive nectar sources like basil, agastache and Russian sage. Occasionally I will see tiny sweat bees and common house flies on the blooms.

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