Lobularia White Stream, a hybrid alyssum, is one of the 2015 Texas Superstar plants.
“White Stream is a new type of alyssum that will survive the heat of Texas summers,” says Brent Pemberton, Texas A&M AgriLife Research ornamental horticulturist and head of the Texas Superstar board, Overton.
Alyssum has traditionally been a cool-season plant.
“It’s been happy in summers up north where it’s cool,” he says. “Here, we grow it in the fall, as a winter plant and it will usually survive the winter in a protected location. But White Stream is just a whole new thing. It won’t tolerate freezing temperatures at all. It gives gardeners in Texas the opportunity to have that kind of plant in the summer landscape.”
Lobularia White Stream was developed by Danziger, an international floriculture company. White Stream is a spreading annual that makes a mat; it’s used as ground cover in landscapes and produces fragrant flowers all summer. It can also be grown in large pots as a patio plant.
Pemberton explains that all Texas Superstar plants undergo extensive tests throughout the state by AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service horticulturists. He’s personally tested White Stream at the East Texas Horticultural Field Day trials at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton for the past three years, along with other alyssum varieties.
