›

Greek yarrow

Ziegler175 / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0

Greek yarrow

Achillea ageratifolia

Greek yarrow (Achillea ageratifolia) is a low, mat-forming alpine perennial from the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula, grown for two things at once: a dense, silvery, near-evergreen mat of narrow, toothed, softly hairy leaves, and clean white daisy-like flower heads carried on slender stalks just above it in late spring and early summer. It is a very different plant from the common yarrow of borders and meadows: instead of ferny foliage and a flat corymb of tiny florets, this species has simple silver leaves (the name ageratifolia means Ageratum-leaved) and comparatively large, solitary or few-headed white flowers with pale yellow centres, each about 0.8 to 1.2 inches across. It stays small, roughly 6 to 10 inches tall in flower over a mat only a few inches high, which makes it a natural for troughs, walls, rock gardens, gravel, and the sunny front of a sharply drained bed. POWO (Kew) gives its native range as the Balkan Peninsula, and it holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit for UK cultivation. The honest condition of success is drainage: it wants full sun and lean, gritty, freely draining soil, is drought tolerant once established, and resents rich, heavy, or winter-wet ground, which is what usually kills it. It is an ornamental rather than a culinary yarrow, and its open daisy heads are easy nectar and pollen for bees and hoverflies.

Climate fit: moderate (47/100)

Pollinator

Border

Container

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Mature size

6-10" tall · 12" apart

Hardy in zones

3a-8b

brutally cold to frosty winters

Native in Illinois

No

Related products

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Well-suited

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Well-suited

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 42 ecoregions - 34 climate-resilient through 2070 · 5 suited today · 3 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

›

Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

›

Arizona Mountains forests

›

Atlantic coastal pine barrens

›

Blue Mountains forests

›

Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

›

Central Tallgrass prairie

›

Central-Southern Cascades Forests

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Spacing

12"

Habit

Low, mat-forming, mound-shaped alpine perennial: a dense cushion of silvery, narrow, toothed, softly hairy leaves only a few inches high, near-evergreen in mild winters, from which slender stalks carry comparatively large, solitary or few-headed white daisy-like flower heads to about 6 to 10 inches in late spring and early summer. A tidy, small-scale, sharp-drainage plant of Balkan mountain rocks rather than a spreading border yarrow.

Care tips

•

Give it the sharpest drainage you can - lean, gritty, sandy or stony soil in full sun - and settle the crown slightly proud so water never sits around it; winter wet, not cold, is what kills this plant.

•

Do not feed or grow it in rich, heavy ground: fertility and clay produce soft, floppy, rot-prone growth on a plant meant to stay tight and silver.

•

Use it where its small scale is an asset - troughs, walls, rock gardens, gravel, and the sunny front edge - rather than expecting it to fill space like a border yarrow.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant in spring in full sun in lean, gritty, sharply drained soil - sandy or stony ground and rock gardens, troughs, walls, and gravel suit it well. Missouri Botanical Garden notes it performs best in lean, well-drained sandy soils and dislikes heavy clay and overly moist, rich conditions. Good winter drainage matters more than fertility.

Transplanting

Move young plants or rooted divisions in spring, keeping the crown at soil level and the collar clear of damp mulch. Because it resents wet, work grit into the planting hole on heavier ground and settle it slightly proud rather than in a hollow that holds water.

Early growth

Water only to establish, then keep it lean and dry; it is drought tolerant once settled and rots in rich, wet soil. Avoid feeding, which produces soft, floppy growth on a plant that is meant to stay tight and silver.

Maturity

Mature plants stay small - a mat a few inches high with flower stalks to about 6 to 10 inches - and flower in late spring and early summer. Deadhead spent heads to tidy the mat and encourage a little rebloom, and cut the plant back lightly after the main flush. Divide every 3 to 4 years (Missouri Botanical Garden) when clumps become crowded or the centre thins.

Propagation

Increase by division of the mat in spring, which is the simplest and most reliable route, or from seed. Named forms are kept true by division rather than seed. Rooted pieces from the edge of an established cushion re-establish readily in gritty soil.

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Aubrieta deltoidea

Aubrieta

Aubrieta (Aubrieta deltoidea) is a low, mat-forming evergreen perennial in the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to the rocky hillsides of southeastern Europe - primarily Greece, the Aegean Islands, Crete, and adjacent Mediterranean coasts. It is one of the most reliable spring-flowering ground covers for sunny, well-drained spots: cascading sheets of violet to deep pink four-petalled blooms from March through May, attractive to bees and bee flies. The honest catch is that without a hard cut-back immediately after flowering, plants become woody and bare in the centre within two or three years, collapsing from a tight carpet into a tired, gappy mat.

Colchicum autumnale is a corm-forming herbaceous perennial native to lowland grassy meadows across much of Europe, from Portugal and Great Britain east to Ukraine. In autumn it sends up naked goblet-shaped flowers of lilac-pink directly from the bare soil - leaves and seedpods follow in spring and die back by early summer. The honest catch is its extreme toxicity: every part of the plant contains colchicine, a compound lethal to humans and animals, and the broad strap-like spring leaves are routinely mistaken for edible wild garlic - a potentially fatal confusion. Despite the common name, it is not a true crocus (Crocus, Iridaceae) but a member of the Colchicaceae.

Gerbera jamesonii, the Barberton daisy (also Transvaal daisy), is a tufted evergreen perennial herb in the daisy family (Asteraceae) native to the summer-rainfall grasslands and rocky woodland of north-eastern South Africa and Eswatini. It forms a basal rosette of lobed leaves from which leafless flowering scapes rise, each topped by a single large daisy-style flowerhead in orange-red, yellow, pink, or white. It is the wild ancestor of the thousands of florist gerbera cultivars and earns its place as a long-blooming focal point in borders and patio containers, attractive to bees and other insects. The load-bearing caution is frost-tenderness: RHS rates it H1C, meaning it survives outdoors only in summer or the very mildest, frost-free spots and must be overwintered under glass elsewhere (roughly USDA 9-11). It is non-toxic, with no reported poisoning hazard to people or pets, making it a safe choice where toxicity is a concern.

Felicia amelloides is an evergreen, woody-based perennial subshrub native to a narrow coastal strip of South Africa's Western and Eastern Cape, where it colonises stabilising sand dunes, sandy flats, and rocky outcrops at 0 to 3,280.8 feet. In the garden it delivers a near-continuous flush of sky-blue, yellow-centred daisy flowers on neat mounding growth, typically 12 to 24 inches but capable of reaching about 3.3 feet, making it one of the few true blue-flowered plants for sunny pots and borders. The honest catch is frost-tenderness: it survives only light frost in sharply drained soil and collapses below about 23°F, so outside USDA zones 9-11 it must be overwintered under glass or replaced annually - a real commitment in cool-temperate gardens.

Campanula carpatica is a low, mounding herbaceous perennial native to the rocky subalpine habitats of the Carpathian Mountains, ranging across Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine (Wikipedia). Its wide, upward-facing bell flowers in violet-blue, white, or pink appear from June through August, making it one of the longest-blooming edging perennials available, and it holds an RHS Award of Garden Merit. The honest catch is longevity: it tends to behave as a short-lived perennial, often thinning or declining after a few seasons, so gardeners should plan for regular division or fresh plants from seed to hold the planting.

Dianthus gratianopolitanus

Cheddar Pink

Cheddar pink is a low, mat-forming evergreen perennial pink (a Dianthus, not a true carnation) native to calcareous rock ledges and cliff faces across western and central Europe, from the protected population at Cheddar Gorge in England east to Ukraine. Its intensely clove-scented, fringed rose-pink flowers and blue-grey foliage make it one of the finest front-of-border edging plants in a sunny, sharply drained garden. The honest catch is drainage: in any soil that holds winter moisture the crown rots reliably, so it fails in heavy clay or irrigated beds and thrives only where drainage is sharp and the site stays dry underfoot in cold months.

Educator packet

Plant packet

Greek yarrow educator packet

Greek yarrow (Achillea ageratifolia) is a low, mat-forming alpine perennial from the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula, grown for two things at once: a dense, silvery, near-evergreen mat of narrow, toothed, softly hairy leaves, and clean white daisy-like flower heads carried on slender stalks just above it in late spring and early summer. It is a very different plant from the common yarrow of borders and meadows: instead of ferny foliage and a flat corymb of tiny florets, this species has simple silver leaves (the name ageratifolia means Ageratum-leaved) and comparatively large, solitary or few-headed white flowers with pale yellow centres, each about 0.8 to 1.2 inches across. It stays small, roughly 6 to 10 inches tall in flower over a mat only a few inches high, which makes it a natural for troughs, walls, rock gardens, gravel, and the sunny front of a sharply drained bed. POWO (Kew) gives its native range as the Balkan Peninsula, and it holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit for UK cultivation. The honest condition of success is drainage: it wants full sun and lean, gritty, freely draining soil, is drought tolerant once established, and resents rich, heavy, or winter-wet ground, which is what usually kills it. It is an ornamental rather than a culinary yarrow, and its open daisy heads are easy nectar and pollen for bees and hoverflies.

Scientific name

Achillea ageratifolia

Plant type

perennial

Hardiness

3a-8b

Light

full-sun

Moisture

low

Spacing

12 inches