in my zone 5.. we had hard frost last week ....

did you???

you may have put a greenhouse grown plant outside too early .... it may not have been hardened off for the night temps you had ....

unless you just mean the flowers are fading.. but even still you jumped the gun with planting early ..

give them a week or two..

otherwise.. i need to see a pic to help further

no soil amendment is going to bring back a faded flower .... dont kill them with too much love .....

ken

Hi.

No you didn't plant them too early. Allyssum is a cool weather plant and a light frost won't bother it at all. It often sprouts in the end of March, first of April in my zone 3 and we usually get lots of frost then--not so much this year though.

They won't necessarily be in the same color combination if they reseed next year. You will have most;ly white and they take quite a while to grow into a decent sized plant. It is easy to grow from seed inside if you want to go that route. I grow Easter basket blend, which is a lovely mix of purple,pink,cream and white and it doesn't fade in the sun

The reason the colored ones fade is the sun. The only way you can keep then from fading is to plant them where they are shaded from the hot midday sun

Yes, the reason that they will change color in subsequent years is because the predominant genetic influence will be to the standard...the white flowers. Hybridized plants rarely come true from seed after that first generation.

However, THIS season your plants should retain their original colors. I've planted alyssum in the full blazing sun of a deep south winter where they kept those wonderful colors all season long....until the temperatures became very hot in the spring. I don't think you'll see any fading this year at all, until the hot weather sets in, at which point they will simply stop being so luscious. I've never seen these plants due to the sun.

The plants don't actually come back the next year, they reseed. And like what was said above, they seldom come true from seed. I've tried the different colors, and in my area, the white are the best. They bloom all summer until hard frost, as long as they are watered well during the heat of the summer. Mine get sun from early morning until 3 or so in the afternoon. I've tried the colored ones, and they were good until it got hot...then died back, even with good watering. Mine reseed so well in the garden, I only buy a few packs to fill in.

Kat

I find that the white ones grow much better for me too. I like the colored type, but it never gets as big and spreads as much as the white. The white goes well with my brighter colored annuals too, and the fragrance seems to be stronger than the colored types too.