I will be unable to listen to the program this month because I will be the guest horticulturist to be interviewed and asked to answer questions called in by listeners.

Until then, I have a question of my own: "What is going on with the weather?!" I cannot remember rain ever continuing so late into the year. The rain has not stopped long enough to justify automated irrigation. I have watered my lawn only once, and would guess that those who normally rely on automation have operated their irrigation systems only manually in the rainy weather.

Fortunately, fungal and bacterial diseases that normally proliferate during rainy weather alternating with warm weather have not been as prominent as they have been during the previous few years. Fire blight, anthracnose and powdery mildew have caused serious problems during the previous two springs because weather patterns have been so conducive to their growth. I would have expected these problems to be even worse this year, because the wet weather continued so much later. I am certainly not complaining.

Now that the weather has so suddenly become warm, those who have automated irrigation but have not yet programmed it should probably do so. However, I should say that in all the landscapes that I inspect, the most common problems I encounter are caused by excessive irrigation. Root rot and buttressed tree roots that break pavement are more difficult to remedy than the preliminary symptoms of desiccation.

Flower of the Week: Sweet alyssum

I planted my first sweet alyssum, Lobularia maritima, in about 1977. It was included in a small sample envelope of mixed annual flower seed that came in my mother's Sunset magazine. The other annuals of the mix bloomed through summer and died off in winter as annuals do. However, the sweet alyssum seeded so profusely that the next generation was blooming through winter as the first generation was finishing. The original seed was probably of a compact variety with larger clear white flowers. It was replaced by shaggier feral alyssum that still continues to re-seed itself.

Sweet alyssum grows quickly from seed in soil that other annuals would not be satisfied with. The profusion of mildly fragrant bloom is compromised only by shade. It blooms through winter and even more profusely during warm spring and summer weather. With the exception of a rare 10-inch tall variety, sweet alyssum is less than five inches tall. Varieties with white bloom have always been the most popular, but some have light purple or purplish-pink bloom. Individual flowers are very small and have only four petals. The finely textured foliage is comprised of narrow leaves that are generally less than an inch long.

Sweet alyssum is so easy to grow from seed that I have never actually tried planting it from six packs (cell packs). I prefer it naturalized in unrefined areas that I do not want to maintain, even though a few stray plants must be plucked from adjacent landscapes or lawns.

Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at 408.358.2574 or at LGHORTICULTURE@aol.com.