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How To Grow Yarrow
Have you ever wondered how to grow yarrow and how do people grow them so well in their house? this perennial flower is so beautiful that people often grow it in large numbers and varieties in their house.
This flower has a variety of names that you might use to call it often like old man’s pepper, gordaldo, nosebleed plant, etc. In the Southwestern states of the U.S, it is called Plumajillo (Spanish worked for little feathers). This is because of the plant texture and the shape of its leaves. The best time to plat these beautiful golden-hued flowers in your house is in the fall. During this time of the year, they can grow to become three feet in height.
Most people call it just common yarrow. It is an herbaceous perennial having delicate beauty but sometimes it also turns to form an aggressive weed. It is native to temperate regions of Asia and Europe’s Northern hemisphere. It was introduced during colonial times in North America. This plant is known to feature flower stalks having a size nearly four times its foliage height and green leaves seeming fern-like feathery.
The mature size of the yarrow is 2 to 3 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide. It requires full sun exposure for its growth and you need to provide enough sun exposure to learn how to grow yarrow. The best soil is sandy, clay, loamy type that’s well-drained. It blooms white and yellow beautiful flowers that look mesmerizing.
Let’s see how to grow yarrow and some care tips that you need to keep in mind for an extraordinary and healthy growth of your plant.
How To Grow Yarrow
Most often, yarrow plants are propagated so you will easily find them with gardeners and you can buy them. If you wish to know how to grow yarrow, you need to plant it in your garden. You can add it to the garden by loosening the soil nearly 12 to 15 inches deep. You have to add compost about 2 to 4 inches deep and mix it nicely.
Make sure the soil is well-drained as yarrow will not be able to survive and tolerate wet soil for long. While planting the yarrow, make sure you space it 1 to 2 feet apart as these plants usually do not have any trouble in spreading and establishing themselves.
Yarrow is a drought-resistant plant so it grows really well in poor soil, due to this reason, it is the ideal plant for xeriscaping in environments like deserts.
This is the way you can easily know how to grow yarrow. Let’s see different aspects such as light, soil, temperature, etc that yarrow needs for healthy growth.
Light
Light is a very important aspect of a plant’s growth, while some plants need maximum sunlight for their growth, some can survive without sunlight for long hours. Yarrow needs full sunlight preferably for good growth., but it can also grow well with partial shade so you do not have to worry about positioning the plant.
If you are getting yarrow plant enough sunlight, the thin and long stems of the plant become floppy which needs to be staked.
Soil
Another factor important in growing plants that most people are worried about as the soil type is different in different places. Common yarrow requires dry to medium soil for amazing growth. The soil should be well-drained. You can choose any soil be it any loamy or any clay, make sure it will not wet. Yarrow can also tolerate normal garden soil for growth.
Soils that are highly rich in nutrients can increase the aggressive growth of yarrow making it grow like a weed, so make sure you avoid such soil types too.
Water
As already mentioned, the common yarrow is a drought-tolerant plant, so you do not have to worry much about its water requirements. But if you live in an area where your garden receives rainfall of less than even 1 inch in a given week. then you have to give some extra water to the plant to make sure it grows quite well.
Humidity And Temperature
These things are also very important for most plants but when you bring a common yarrow home, do not worry about these too. Common yarrow can easily tolerate both humid and hot days along with drought.
Fertilizer
These plants are extremely low maintenance. You do not have to buy a new fertilizer or fertilize the plant every month, annual side dressing with a normal compost should be fine or enough for the good growth of this plant.
You do not want to make the soil too rich in nutrients by adding a lot of fertilizer because that will promote the aggressive growth of the plant.
These were common aspects of a plant’s growth that you must keep in your mind in order to know how to grow yarrow. Once you are done with learning how to grow yarrow, you also need its propagation medium.
Pruning
There are few reasons due to which you need to prune your common yarrow plant regularly. The first reason is that deadheading the plant will keep the flowers in near continual bloom. Other than that, the stem of plants can begin to flop if not pruned. This is especially the case when the plant grows in the hot and humid climate.
You have to cut back the stems of the plant and reduce the plant’s height and avoid flopping. Finally, in some conditions yarrow can become invasive too when the soil becomes too rich in nutrients. Pruning is important to keep the plant in check by avoiding self-sowing of the plant.
Propagating Common Yarrow
Yarrow spreads really easily and quickly when it is kept in ideal growing conditions that are already mentioned. Although, even after giving them proper conditions, their growth is not always on the aggressive side. They need to be divided every two to three years to maintain their vitality and plant them nicely.
There are few varieties of yarrow you may consider bringing to your home. All these are equally beautiful and amazing. Based on the habitat you live in, you can choose any of these varieties.
You can also grow common yarrow from seeds. Start growing yarrow from seeds inside the house about 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost predicted. Make sure to sow the seeds inside a normal potting medium and out the yarrow plant in a warm and sunny location. You will notice that in nearly 14 to 21 weeks, the seeds of the plant will start germinating.
Different Varieties Of Common Yarrow
- Apple blossom is one variety of yarrow. It is generated through a cross between A Millefolium and A. Taygetea. It produces purple to pinkish flowers that are nearly 2 to 3 inches wide in size and appears magnificent.
- Cerise Queen in another variety of yarrow. This variety is beautiful and it bears deep pink flowers along with dark green foliage. You can expect these to grow 1 to 3 feet tall in size after they mature.
- Another variety f common yarrow is little moonshine. This variety is among the compact varieties and it grows 9 to 12 inches tall in size. It features very bright yellow flowers having silvery green leaves that appear aesthetically beautiful.
- The fourth variety is new vintage red. It bears very vibrant red flowers as the name suggests along with bright green leaves and grows 12 to 15 inches tall in size.
- The fifth variety is the galaxy hybrid variety of common yarrow. It is equally beautiful as the above four varieties and it bears brick red flowers having 2 to 3 cm size with blooms that later on fade to form shades of pink color.
These were 5 common varieties of yarrow you can bring home to beautify your garden even more once you know how to grow yarrow.
Toxicity Of Common Yarrow
If you have decided to learn how to grow yarrow and bring it home, you should do research about its toxicity first. Know that common yarrow is toxic to horses, cats, and dogs. When dogs or other animals like cats and horses consume common yarrow it leads to diarrhea and causes vomiting. Sometimes the effects are so high that it causes anorexia, depression, and hypersalivation-like problems in pets.
You should know these problems before getting a common yarrow home. If you have a cat or dog at home, make sure they stay away from your plants or do not bring them home. In humans, once you touch common yarrow, in very rare cases it might cause skin rashes as well as escalate your skin’s photosensitivity. It usually happens in highly sensitive skin types.
Common Diseases And Pests On Common Yarrow
You do not have to give common yarrow too much attention for its growth. It grows really well in minimal conditions except for the lightning. Yarrow can sometimes be susceptible to powdery mildew and botrytis mold. Both these diseases will appear as white powder-like structures on the plant.
You can treat the plant using an appropriate fungicide to get rid of such diseases. Yarrow can also be affected by spittlebugs. This appears a little bit as someone has spotted on the plants. If you have seen too many bugs and diseases on the plant, you have to apply an insecticide under high pressure to remove all these things.
If you are interested in growing bamboo in your house, learn through these tips and guide how to grow bamboo and enhance the look of your outdoor gardens easily.
