Achillea millefolium Seeds | Red Yarrow
LATIN NAME: Achillea millefolium
COMMON NAME: Red Yarrow, Cerise Queen Yarrow, Common Yarrow
Plant Profile
Cerise Queen is a red-flowered yarrow, with the same ferny grey-green foliage as the white species but flat heads of deep cerise-pink flowers from June to September. Plants reach 60-75 cm, and the colour holds for weeks before fading to a dusty rose.
The heads are made of dozens of tiny florets, which is why they attract such a range of insects, and why the plant looks solid from a distance and intricate up close. The foliage is aromatic when crushed and stays low and neat through winter.
Yarrow is native across temperate Europe and western Asia, and it grows in dry grassland, road verges and mountain pasture. Cerise Queen is a garden selection of the common species, and it behaves exactly like the wild plant apart from colour.
Science & Biotechnology
The pink colour comes from anthocyanins in the ray florets, and it fades as the tissue ages and the pigments oxidise. That is why a Cerise Queen head is at its best in the second week after opening, and why dried heads are duller than the living flower.
Yarrow’s medicinal chemistry includes achilleine, sesquiterpene lactones and a volatile oil with camphor and chamazulene. The plant has a long record as a styptic and a bitter tonic, and it remains one of the most widely used European herbs. Contact with the foliage can cause photosensitivity in some people.
The flat flower head is an adaptation to a wide range of pollinators: short-tongued flies, small wasps and beetles can all reach the nectar, which is why yarrow supports more insect species than most garden perennials of the same size.
Uses & Benefits
Cerise Queen is a border plant for the middle of a sunny bed, where its colour works with grasses, salvias and the blue campanulas. It is also a cut flower, though the stems are stiff and the heads heavy, and it dries well enough for winter work.
The plant is a workhorse for wildlife gardening and for green roofs, where its drought tolerance and its nectar are more valuable than its colour. In herbal practice the flowering tops are used as a bitter tonic and a traditional wound herb, usually in infusion or tincture.
Growing from Seed
Sow on the surface at 18-21°C; germination in ten days to two weeks, and light helps. The seedlings are vigorous and should be pricked out early. Yarrow crosses freely, so seed from a red plant will give a mix of reds, pinks and whites unless it was isolated.
Plant out at 30 cm apart in full sun on any well-drained soil. Water only until established. Cut the first flush of heads when they fade to encourage a second, and divide the clump every third year to keep it vigorous. In a rich border the plants grow taller and looser and may need a light stake.
Our Take
A yarrow with enough colour to earn a place in a border, and enough toughness to survive anywhere you put it.
Related Reading
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