The Perfect Companion Flower For Dahlias That'll Suppress Weeds

There's almost nothing more delightful and awe-inspiring than a beautiful dahlia flower that's just opened up to show off all of its brilliance. It's really no wonder that these plants are a favorite with many flower lovers, and why they're considered one of the most Instagrammable flowers for your feed. The blooms are varied in both form and color, they add emphasis to a garden, and they're brilliant for cutting and placing in a vase indoors. If you're growing them already, then you know that they start out as tubers and send their growth up in spring. This often leaves some bare spaces in the yard where you've planted them, allowing weeds to easily take hold. In order to solve that problem, there's a perfect companion flower that'll help suppress those weeds: sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima).

This pretty annual grows low to the ground (up to 10 inches in height) and spreads out to form a nice dense mat (up to 1 foot in width), covering the ground as it does. This cover not only looks much nicer than bare yard, but also stops the sun from reaching the soil beneath, thus preventing weed seeds from germinating.

To add to its allure, sweet alyssum produces small scented flower clusters in spring, summer, and fall. This means that while you're waiting for your dahlias to delight you with their stunning blooms, you can enjoy a carpet of sweetly fragranced white, pink, or lavender flowers that will bring in pollinators such as bees, hoverflies, and butterflies. This actually makes sweet alyssum the perfect cover crop to pair with your dahlias. It's also relatively shallow-rooted, so it won't cause any disturbance to the dahlia tubers or compete with them for nutrients.

Like dahlias, the best spot in your garden to plant sweet alyssum is wherever your flowers are going to get plenty of sunshine. Sweet alyssum will grow as a short-lived perennial in USDA hardiness zones 5 through 9, but the good news is that, even if grown as an annual, it will produce plenty of seeds that will germinate to create new plants and replace the old ones in spring, just as your dahlias are waking up from their winter slumber. To begin with, you can either sow seeds a few weeks before the last frost date or purchase plugs or small plants from your local nursery.

While there are now quite a few cultivars of alyssum available in many different shades, the white-flowered ones seem to often be more heavily scented and vigorous in growth. The white blooms also make an excellent backdrop for those brightly-colored dahlias, without causing a clash of colors. Like your dahlias, sweet alyssum will thrive when it's provided with regular watering. You'll also want to deadhead the spent flowers, as this will promote more blooms and maintain a tidy appearance. In addition to pairing alyssum with your dahlias, you might also consider planting companion flowers for peonies or other plants in your yard.