Yarrow is Ideal for Xeriscaping

Yarrow is an Ideal Xeriscaping Plant

Yesterday I wrote about xeriscaping  and showed you some examples. Although I didn't recognize yarrow in any of them, I wasn't able to go onto private property for a closer look. Still, yarrow is ideal for xeriscaping because it is drought tolerant, spreads to fill available space, and adds color to the garden in season.  What you see below is along the Charolais Corridor Trail in Paso Robles

Insects on Yellow Yarrow, © B. Radisavljevic

Yarrow in Paso Robles Xeriscapes

If you are on the lookout for it, you will see a lot of yarrow in Paso Robles and the rest of the North County. Both the shot above and the one directly below were taken on the Charolais Corridor Trail between South River Road and Riverbank Lane, ending just across from an entrance to Larry Moore Park. The photo below was taken at the entrance to the trail on Riverbank Lane. On most of the trail, yarrow is mixed with cistus (the pink, purple flowers), rosemary, and cotoneaster. Between them, there is color in almost every season.

Xeriscaping with  Yarrow, © B. Radisavljevic

In autumn, the yarrow flowers dry well and can be used in dry flower arrangements. They are still adding interest even when dry along this trail and at Larry Moore Park, where, as I recall, they have also planted yarrow. I didn't have time to check today to see if it's still there.

Dried Yarrow on Trail, © B. Radisavljevic

Another place I've noticed seeing yarrow in the city is on South Vine Street east to of the Marriott Hotel, in the landscaping of the recently built dental building with the solar panels on the roof. This photo was taken there.

Xeriscaping with  Yarrow on South Vine, © B. Radisavljevic

Insects Are Attracted to Yarrow

In the top photo taken along the trail, you saw at least one fly and another insect which may also be a type of fly. Below is another shot from the xeriscape at the dental  building on South Vine. There you see a very content bee on the yellow yarrow.

Bee on Yellow Yarrow, © B. Radisavljevic

Yarrow Comes in Many Colors

The most common color I see is the yellow, as in the photos above. Common yarrow (Achillea Millefolium) often grows wild with a white flower. The Sunset Western Garden Problem Solver lists it as a weed because it grows wild and is often invasive. I haven't seen it growing wild and white yet. My own yarrow plant, which I currently have confined to a container, is red. It's called a grapefruit yarrow. It is just starting to bloom this week.

Grapefruit Yarrow, © B. Radisavljevic

I've also seen beautiful yarrow plantings at some wineries. I honestly don't remember at which one I took the picture below. The yarrow appears to be next to some sage and lavender, judging just from their leaves.

Yarrow in Mixed Colors, © B. Radisavljevic

Cultivation and Uses of Yarrow

Yarrow likes to grow in the sun. It needs some irrigation until it is established, but then it can usually get along with rain water. It likes a moderately rich, well-drained soil with a pH of 6.1. It is hardy to Zone 2. Yarrow can adapt to a variety of soils, as long as you don't let its feet get too wet.

Yarrow grows easily from seed, but I started with a nursery plant from a local organic grower. You can divide yarrow plants in spring and fall. I will probably divide mine and put some into a flower bed next fall.

According to Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, people have used yarrow for over 60,000 years. Archaeologists discovered it in fossils in Neanderthal burial caves. Since then people have found many uses for it medicinally, and cosmetically. It has been used for crafts and to make dye. It is said that when planted near other herbs, it will increase the essential oils they produce. This has not been proved.

If you'd like to try growing yarrow, why not look through Amazon's amazing variety of seed choices. I may even get some seed myself, just to try some new colors. Maybe I'll redo my lawn with yarrow, sage, lavender, euphorbia, and rosemary. I'll leave that decision for another day.

If you found this post useful, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of the post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning. The yarrow photos in the collage were all taken along the Charolais Corridor Trail. 

This is my twenty-fifth post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog. Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy
E is for Elderberry
F is for Flowers
G is for Gazania
Hollyhocks are Edible
Irises Are Garden Survivors
Jupiter's Beard: A Mystery Finally Solved
Kale for Lunch
Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
Miner's Lettuce is Tasty and Free"Naked Ladies" Bloom in August
Oleander through the Year
Plant Pests and their Predators: Aphids and Ladybugs
Quince Fruit from Blossom to Table
Roses Are Not Just Red
Sages Add Color and Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
Tansy and Fruity Teucrium Can be Garden Friends
Urushiol Will Make You Itch
Vetch Runs Wild

Weeds I Love to Hate

Xeriscaping is Essential in Dry Areas
***

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F is for Flowers

Borage , catmint, calendula, and
 chocolate cosmos in bloom, © B. Radisavljevic

As I pondered what kind of flower or other plant started with the letter "F" for the AtoZchallenge, I couldn't think one. I could not find any plants that started with "f" for which I had photos. It suddenly dawned on me that "flowers" itself would work. I have hundreds of flower photos to choose from, so F is for Flowers. 

I'll start in my own garden. The photo above was taken in my front flowerbed. The small purple flowers at the top left are borage flowers from a plant that reseeded. The smaller white flower spikes are from a catmint plant which was overshadowed by the borage. I love to throw the borage flowers and the petals of the calendula flower (left, yellow) into my salads to add color. I can make tea with catmint, and the neighbor's cat sometimes comes over to steal a bit. You can barely see the chocolate cosmos, above the calendula next to a borage leaf. For some reason, the chocolate cosmos did not last past its first year. Maybe I only thought it was perennial.

Logan looking at hornworm on borage plant in front of catmint, borage flowers, catmint,
 calendula, and chocolate cosmos in bloom, © B. Radisavljevic

Above you see Logan watching a hornworm on the borage behind the catmint. Later I gave him a leaf, and he became quite intoxicated. You can see the photos of that in a related link at the end of the post. The yellow flowers that look like buttons are santolina. I planted that in a pot from a root division from a mother plant in Templeton. It did really well in this pot until it somehow got too much water. That killed it. The mother santolina plant gets almost no water and lives on. 

By now you have figured out I use a lot of herbs in my flowerbeds. I love them. I got most of my herbs from the now out-of-business Fat Cat Farm and the Sycamore Herb Farm which preceded it. I really miss having them right down the street. I then propagated those perennial herbs with cuttings or root divisions, and some just reseeded year after year. The flowers add color in their season and provide forage for the bees I like to befriend. They love my rosemary and black sage. So do the butterflies.

Bee Foraging on Rosemary, © B. Radisavljevic

Bee Foraging on Black Sage, © B. Radisavljevic

Butterfly on Black Sage, © B. Radisavljevic

Two other flowers that butterflies like are scabiosa (pincushion flower) and gazanias.

Butterfly on Gazanias,  © B. Radisavljevic

Swallowtail Butterfly on Scabiosa,  © B. Radisavljevic

One of my favorite flowers is this yellow rose. My mom used to live in this house, and she had a landscaper plant the rose garden in the back yard. I enjoy the roses, and although they are beautiful, I get more satisfaction from flowers I plant myself and watch grow.

Yellow Rose from my Garden,  © B. Radisavljevic

Below are two plants I've come to love -- Lamb's Ears and Sweet William. I have no idea how the Sweet William got here. One day I discovered it in my flower bed by the garage and I liked it. It took quite a while for me to identify it. It dies down every year in winter and pops up again in spring. It's trying to grow through the spreading Lamb's Ears, which I'm in the process of thinning. The Lamb's Ears have a tendency to spread. It all came from one root division from a plant in Templeton and it is now trying to take over every flower bed I have. I love it, but it needs boundaries. As you can see, it's just starting to bloom this year. 

Lamb's Ears and Sweet Williams Growing Together,  © B. Radisavljevic

In 2013 I planted a lot of daffodil bulbs. Some were very close to the black sage which is now trying to make a canopy over them. Black sage really needs to be pruned every year if you don't want it to grow to six feet wide. I will probably have to move any of the daffodils near it before next season. This daffodil is peeking out from the black sage. 

Daffodil Emerging from under Black Sage,  © B. Radisavljevic

The rest of the flowers are from my neighborhood or in public places. Just below is lantana that was growing in a planter in front of the Park Cinemas in downtown Paso Robles. I love lantana, but haven't had good luck growing it. I'd never seen its berries before. Birds eat lantana berries, but they can be toxic to people and pets.

Lantana Flowers and Berries,  © B. Radisavljevic

I love my neighbor's garden. She grows many plants I love. She and I both like to mix them up. Here she has irises, roses, Jupiter's beard, California poppies, and a red sage. I featured much more of her garden in "Earth Laughs In Flowers." 

My Neighbor's Garden,  © B. Radisavljevic

This is my sixth post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog.  Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy
E is for Elderberry

You can buy these greeting cards made from photos of the flowers in my garden by clicking the images below. You can see my blank floral card collection here. 

 Thinking of You Today Thinking of You Delicate Poppy Friendship

& 

If you enjoyed this post, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of this post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning. 

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C is for Carnations

Pink Carnation, © B. Radisavljevic

Carnations are among my favorite flowers. I love their scent, and Mom always had them in her garden, so I grew up with them. I have written plenty about calendula on other sites, and  I couldn't find my catmint photos until after I had already decided that for the purposes of this AtoZchallenge, C is for carnations. 

Mom loved carnations. So when I inherited her home in 2005, I wanted to plant some here. She had a lovely rose garden in the back yard, but had never planted any flowers in front for the neighbors to enjoy. I wanted to see some color there, so I started propagating new plants from my home herb garden and moving them in. Carnations add color to the flowerbed in winter and early spring before it gets hot.

Swallowtail Butterfly on Pink Carnations,  © B. Radisavljevic

Carnations are easy to propagate. I believe the light pink carnations in these photos are the progeny of a root division I originally got from Mom almost fifty years ago. If you pull a section of the plant off near the ground, remove the bottom leaves, plant it in good soil, and keep it watered until established, it will probably grow up to produce flowers. There are more complicated ways to do it, but I didn't find out about them until I had already been successfully propagating carnations from cuttings for several years. This swallowtail butterfly didn't care that I hadn't propagated my carnations by the book.

In 2013 I decided I wanted to grow a darker carnation, so I bought one from a local nursery. It's pretty crowded by other plants now, and I'm hoping I have time to remedy that soon, but I have gotten a few of the dark pink variegated carnation flowers from this plant.

As you  can see, the calendula seedling (left) that sprang up in front of the darker carnation almost looks like it's where the carnation came from. Instead it's helping  the carnation to hold up its head.

As you can see, I sometimes can't find time to  tend my garden as I wish I could, so it sometimes does as it pleases. When I compare it to the monotonous green shrubs that used to dominate this flowerbed, though, I'm happy that when nature takes its course I have the color I do now.

How does your garden grow? Are you growing any  carnations?

If you enjoyed this post about carnations, why not pin it to your Pinterest board?

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