After the last winter season, I’ve started following several weather forecasting gurus. They all seem to be on the sensationalist side of journalism, but it makes it a lot of fun. It keeps me second guessing whether the collapse of the polar vortex is a good thing or a bad thing. As a horticulturist I know one thing and that is that Snow is in the winter forecast.

I made sure of that in September. As you can guess I am talking about plants, and indeed I am referring to Snow Princess lobularia or Sweet Alyssum. I first saw Snow Princess in 2009 at the California Pack Trials and a month or so later they were put in the Mississippi Medallion Plant Trials at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Spring, Mississippi. So, you can see I have already mentioned planting in the spring and the fall in the Deep South. Six or seven months ago, I wrote in this column about Snow for the Summer.

It has won 113 awards, from North to South and East to West. The tag says cold hardy to zone 9 but I have never lost one to cold temperatures in zone 8. It is natural in mixed containers and yet is a tiger as a monoculture with the ability to reach 16 inches in height and spread to 4 feet, perfect as a floral groundcover.

In September I planted Snow Princess in mixed containers throughout the landscape. By October they were already making a colorful impact. Their fragrant blossoms with their sweet aroma permeating the garden were bringing in all sorts of bees and a pleasant surprise is that American Lady butterflies always seem to visit.

Snow Princess sweet alyssum needs plenty of sun to live up to its potential; if you have part sun don’t fret, you’ll still garner the green thumb award. Next prerequisite is good drainage. This is normally not an issue in mixed containers with drainage holes and good potting soil.

Raised beds with fertile soil typically drain well if you can build your beds with the prepared raised bed mixes. Can you imagine Snow Princess sweet alyssum with Supertunia Vista Bubblegum in a raised bed, how many hundreds of awards would that combo represent?

Late October one container looked like a spring bouquet with Snow Princess sweet alyssum, Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow and the new Supertunia Mini Vista Pink Cloud petunias. In other containers blue shows out with the white. Superbells Grape Punch calibrachoas and Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo petunias seem to electrify the combination, or is it the contrast of the white?

Here I am in early December, and my favorite container features a combination of Luscious Marmalade lantana, Superbells Pomegranate Punch calibrachoa, Supertunia Mini Vista Ultramarine petunia and Snow Princess sweet alyssum. My love for the flaming orange will cause a dilemma in that the lantana will return from the winter but not look vibrant through the winter in my region.

This is a wonderful plant in that you can plant whenever you find it for sale in zone 8 and warmer. I find myself usually trimming or cutting back in summer to jump start fresh fall growth.

I don’t know about the predictions on the vortex, but we are going to have snow at The Garden Guy’s house thanks to the Snow Princess lobularia. How sweet it is!

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(Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.)

(NOTE TO EDITORS: Norman Winter receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.)

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