Date: Fri 15-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-12

Quick Words:

yarrow-hybrids-Lovejoy-border

Full Text:

Suburban Gardener-

Don't Dismiss The Hardy Yarrow

By Anthony C. Bleach

"Exceptionally persistent in bloom, most yarrows repeat ardently, especially

when frequently dead-headed."

-Ann Lovejoy

I visited White Flower Farm this week to reconnoiter for a class study on fall

perennials. It has been a droughty summer, but I thought at least the yarrows,

with their flower heads like plates of gold, would be there. But they are

replanning the gardens and the beds were bare.

It was worth the trip for just one yarrow. Achillea ptarmica, "The Pearl,"

with flowers like tiny pompoms on cascading four-foot high stems, was as

welcome as a bridesmaid's bouquet.

"Coronation Gold" was discovered as a chance seedling in the same year that

Queen Elizabeth came to the throne and Everest was first climbed. "Moonshine"

is almost as popular, with paler, icy-yellow flower heads and cool grey

leaves.

But now we have the Galaxy hybrids from Germany, as various as lipsticks. What

are they like and how can we use them? White Flower Farm dismisses them as

"Summer Shades Mixture," an anonymous rainbow coalition!

Ann Lovejoy did her homework on them in Horticulture recently, and described

them individually. The Galaxies are the result of cross-breeding of Achillea

species by Wilhelm Kikillus and were introduced in 1986. Chalky pink

"Appleblossom" (Apfelblute) looks lovely as a ground cover underneath the

white flowered and rosy-hipped bush roses. The buff yellow of "Great

Expectations," a/k/a "Hope" or "Hoffnung," can bring harmony to the contrasts

of flowers that are red/brick red and others that are hot orange.

The broad flower heads of "Salmon Beauty" (Lachsschonheit) start their

leisurely long blooming with a cool salmon red, and ages gracefully to a sort

of butter yellow. Yes, hard to describe, but like your favorite sweater, they

can go with anything.

Ann Lovejoy particularly appreciates "The Beacon" ("Fanal"), which opens with

hot, cinnamon-red which softens to an interesting rust color.

"This whole color sequence brilliantly complements a murky purple smoke-bush

as Cotinus coggygria `Velvet Cloak' or a thready cut leaf maple such as Acer

palmatum `Burgundy Lace,'" she writes.

"The Beacon" is sometimes listed as "Paprika," but although the two are the

same spicy red, "Paprika," at 18 inches, is a bit shorter and spreads a bit

faster. Where a muted version of this color scheme is wanted, she suggests

"Weser River Sandstone" ("Wesersandstein") at two feet. This opens as wine red

and fades to old rose. These make good company with "Charles Austin" roses and

for the deep blues of Aconitum, monkshood.

Later introductions will probably have such internationally banal names as

"Floral Carpet," but yarrows are so full of character, so various, so tough in

the drought, they will continue to grow in popularity despite even that. On

open, exposed sites and dry soils, no border plant performs better.

(Anthony C. Bleach coordinates the horticulture programs at Naugatuck Valley

Community-Technical College in Waterbury.)