Not every plant can be a super star.
Or the lead singer of the band.
Can you imagine five Steven Tyler’s in Aerosmith? Or 5 Axl Rose’s in Guns N’ Roses? It would be complete and utter chaos; a hot friggin mess.
Today, I wanted to share a plant with you that never wants the spotlight. A plant that does just fine in the background but is a consistent performer. A Tom Hamilton or Izzy Stradlin if you will.
Today’s plant is Achillea (Yarrow) ‘Moonwalker’:
Nothing overly exciting or dramatic but … nice. I have had this perennial for years now and each and every year it returns without issue and blooms throughout the summer and into early fall. I have had issues with other Yarrows where they open up in the middle or flop, but this cultivar has been nearly perfect.
Some additional tidbits for you:
- Average size is 2′ x 2′
- Survives in zones 4-8
- Prefers full sun
- Deer resistant (no issue ever for me)
- Drought and heat tolerant
- Has no real soil preference and has worked in clay for me
- Flowers are a deep yellow and are anywhere from 3″ to 5″ in diameter
- Like most yarrows (if not all?) the foliage is fern-like and a deep green in color
- The foliage is alleged to be fragrant but me and my deviated septum beg to differ
One quick note: Years ago, this was the first flower I cut and attempted to “dry” in my basement and I still remember the look on my wife’s face when she saw it hanging from the rafters. It screamed “Who is this guy I married?” Classic.
Here are some additional photos:
Just breaking into bloom in early June:
Behaving nicely in late June:
Holding its own in a mixed bed:
And even holding up well into winter as the basal foliage remains green below the faded flowers:
One last item before I leave you.
For the first time ever, I have found a number of these popping up in different areas in the garden yet I’ve read that it doesn’t re-seed and isn’t true to the parent. Hmmmm … very interesting. Anyone else having any experience with this? Please share.
“Dream on” and have a great weekend!
John
“amazing” post, pretty flowers and photos!=)
I will sure look for this one as I too have had trouble with floppiness in other varieties.
Eileen
lovely photos of a lovely plant…appears to dry nicely too for those who like to make dried arrangements for fall!
John, I’ve always known Yarrow to be the number one plant that sends ‘Volunteers’.. It has a great rate of sharing its wealth throughout the garden when it is perfectly happy.. 🙂
Lovely. I have the OTHER yarrow – fern leaf. I may have to look for a start of this sweet cousin. When I lived in Washington I had one with the prettiest pink/purple blooms – now I have the more common yellow. While I miss what I had before this gives good contrast to a lot of the other things in my garden.
Great review on the Moonwalker,the photos do it great justice, a worthy addition to the garden 🙂