By Pamela and Frank Arnosky

Every season in late May, we host a tour put together by our largest wholesale customer, the Central Market high-end grocery chain here in Texas. The store books a tour for its customers, charges a nominal fee, and provides a nice box lunch. Usually about 75 people show up, and we spend a couple of hours tromping around the fields, talking about all the cut flower varieties that we grow and making sure no one steps in a fire ant mound or into a patch of bull nettle with open-toed shoes. These folks are an enthusiastic bunch, and they want to know the details about every variety we grow and how to grow it themselves. Central Texas is not an easy place to grow anything, and a lot of the discussion involves just keeping plants alive in this state with its split personality weather (polar ice cap to sub-Saharan Africa) and Kamikaze deer. But the hardest questions to answer are when someone asks, “Where can I buy that?” This is hard to answer because as often as not, the plant in question has been bought from a company specializing in cut flowers, and the plant is not available except in wholesale lots of 1000 or more. Gipsy dianthus is a case in point. People always want to buy this plant, and they are disappointed when we have to tell them it’s a patented variety out of Holland, not available to the public.
One plant that is always blooming for the tour in late May is the Achillea ‘Colorado’, and when we get to those beds everybody oohs and ahhs over the lovely mix of pastel tones. This is a yarrow that they’ve never seen in their local garden centers. And they want some! Finally Frank, leading the field tour, can breathe a sigh of relief. “They have it in the Renee’s Garden Seeds rack at so and so nursery,” he tells them, “and it will bloom the first year form seed, even here in Texas.” Finally, the tourists have extracted that nugget of information they’ve been looking for, something their gardening neighbors don’t know about and can be used against them in the next round. “Oh, you don’t know about that one?”, they’ll say over the fence. “I first saw it on my trip to the cut flower farm in Blanco. It’s a specialty cut flower.”
We have been growing ‘Colorado’ yarrow for many years, and it truly is a “specialty” cut flower. By that we mean that it is a flower that is somewhat delicate, doesn’t really ship well, and has that old-fashioned charm that people associate with garden flowers not usually available at the florists. In other words, it’s a great item for local markets. But there are a lot of other yarrows available for the cut flower trade, and even some obscure, harder to find species that an adventuresome grower might want to try.

There are basically two well-known groups of Achillea for cut flower production. One group stems from the species, A. filipendulina. This is a tall growing species (5 feet) that has deeply cut foliage of a deep green color. The foliage has a strong, musky fragrance that is not altogether pleasant! (Pamela doesn’t seem to mind it, but it’ll send Frank howling from the field!) The flowers are bright yellow-gold, produced at the tops of the long stems. It is a long lived perennial, and many of the tall yellow varieties have A. filipendulina in their backgrounds.
The other main group come from the species A. millefolium. It is the common white yarrow from Europe that has escaped in many parts of the country and now grows as a meadow flower. It has finely cut, silvery leaves. Many beautiful colored varieties have been developed from this species and from hybridizing it with other species. It is now available in a wide range of colors, from soft lemon yellow to pastel orange to deep rose.
Another yarrow used as a cut, but of lesser importance now, is the species A. ptarmica, or sneezewort. Varieties of this species were used as cuts back 60 or 70 years ago. Our guru, Fritz Bahr, sang its praises in 1922 in his book Commercial Floriculture . “You will never want to get along without it.” he says enthusiastically, but since then they have fallen out of favor for the new millefolium types. A. ptarmica has large flowers in loose panicles, and they look more like a matricaria. There are single and double varieties. ‘The Pearl’ is a commonly found variety. A. ptarmica doesn’t get too tall, and it can be invasive -two more likely reasons that it fell out of favor.
In addition to the two main groups, there are a number of interesting species that have been used in hybridization, and have some merit as a cut flower by themselves.
A. clypeolata has golden yellow flowers and silvery gray foliage. It may be a bit short for cut flowers, but has been a parent of some very nice varieties. A. ageratum is another yellow species. The variety ‘Moonwalker’ is an improved form, and is available from seed. It will bloom the first year from seed, so it is a good choice for growers here in the south. Seed is available from Jelitto, a great German seed company with a mind boggling number of perennial seeds (18 types of achillea alone) You can get a catalog at 502-895-0807. Jelitto also has the species A. siberica var camtschatica ‘Love Parade’. We haven’t grown it yet, (Actually we got it started, but it languished in the plug trays for lack of time -sound familiar?) but it looks very nice. It has rich, dark green, glossy leaves (we know that much!) and the photo shows a cluster of small pink daisies – think weddings (“Yuk,” Frank says!) The catalog says it’ll get 24 inches tall. With a name like siberica we get the feeling it would do well up north.

Achillea millefolium
Achillea ‘Colorado’ is a millefolium hybrid. As we said earlier there are a great many varieties of millefolium and its hybrids. Most of the best varieties are vegetatively propagated as named varieties. It is hard to recommend any particular variety because there are so many to choose from. ‘Paprika’ is a nice red variety with tall stems. ‘Summer Wine’ is another nice one, with burgundy red flowers. We particularly like the variety ‘Terra Cotta’. It has tall strong stems topped with soft coral-orange flowers. ‘Fireland’ is a sister variety that has darker orange flowers. There are also a number of pink and rose varieties. One problem with a lot of the millefolium types is that the flowers start to fade in color as they mature. We don’t see that as a major problem, but if you need to sell solid color bunches it could be a factor.
There are also some seed-propagated millefolium types. One well known variety is ‘Cerise Queen.’ It is a vigorous variety with flowers in shades of rose and burgundy. ‘Colorado’ is also seed grown, and it will bloom the first year from seed. It comes in a great range of colors and has tall strong stems. We love it. It is probably a hybrid with some other species such as A. tayegtea. Summer Pastels is a similar mix that blooms the first year, but for us it is too short. Another new variety is called ‘Cassis’. It is similar to Cerise Queen, but we found that the flowers were smaller, and very dark rose, almost a “non-color”. Its main advantage is that it blooms the first year.
For those of us in the south, the issue of first year blooming is important. Most millefolium varieties need a chilling period to bloom, and we often don’t get enough chilling here in Central Texas to bloom them. Many of the named varieties from cuttings or divisions won’t bloom reliably here. The seed grown types overcome that. They lack the uniformity of the named varieties, but at least we get flowers! We also like to use seed varieties here in Texas because our summer heat really takes a toll on the millefolium varieties. By fall, the ones that have survived look like they’d have rather died! Seed grown varieties give us the chance to start fresh each season. Not all seed varieties are low chilling, though. We can’t grow ‘Cerise Queen’ here – it’s just too warm.

How to grow, propagate
Yarrow seed is easy to start. It is tiny, and we use our smallest seed plate in a 392 cell plug tray. Sometimes the seeder plate will pick up multiple seeds, but you can separate the plants later or let them grow as a clump. Cover the seed very lightly, if at all, and keep warm. It’ll be up in less than a week. Watch for ants – they like to carry off the seed.
In more moderate areas, the millefolium can form large perennial mats and can sometimes be invasive. You can propagate them from divisions or cuttings. Divisions can be made in the spring or fall. Just dig up a clump, and whack it apart into smaller clumps with a knife or a spade. We like to use a lettuce cutting knife. Plant the clumps and water them in well. We like to leave a clump about the size of a fist because it will bloom sooner, but you can cut them down to individual shoots if you want to propagate thousands of them. At this point they are best treated as a cutting, and planted in a cell tray on the propagation or mist bench. You can use shoots with roots, or you can cut the shoots off and root them using some Dip-N-Grow rooting hormone. At any rate, they are easy to propagate.
The filipendulina types are most often used as dried flowers, and are available only in shades of yellow and gold. A. filipendulina is a much bigger, rougher plant than millefolium. The seed propagated types such as ‘Gold Plate’ or ‘Parker’s Variety’ are pure A. filipendulina. ‘Coronation Gold’ is a hybrid with A. clypeolata. It is a bit shorter than A. filipendulina, and by all accounts better than the species. It has gold flowers 3-4 inches across. It is only available from vegetative propagation. Another nice hybrid is Achillea ‘Credo’. It is a hybrid of A. filipendulina and A. millefolium. We have mentioned it before and we like it a lot. It combines the best of both species. It has soft lemon flowers on 3 to 4 foot stems. The foliage is silvery and soft, and the fragrance is nice. It is vegetatively propagated.

Shelley and Ken McGeathy at McGeathy Farms in Hemlock Michigan grow about one acre of achillea ‘Coronation Gold’ for the dried flower market. Shelley is a past board member for the ASCFG and Frank visited their farm several years ago. They have a barn for air drying flowers and several chambers with forced hot air for quick drying of some crops. They ship their products nationwide.
Shelley says ‘Coronation Gold’ is a big crop for them. “We tried the other varieties, but this had better color, and it doesn’t fade” she said. “It has very few pest problems, and we grow it in heavy clay. It has been in place seven years.” She told us that the plants are planted in single rows on 42 inch centers. Ken goes over the beds every fall with a disc and chops up the plants. “This gets the dead stuff out” Shelley says. “It also invigorates the plants” She said ‘Coronation Gold’ has strong stems that will get about 5 feet tall and that it is very wind tolerant and doesn’t need staking.
Shelley and Ken dry their achillea in both the forced air rooms and in the drying barn. “We force some to get it out early,” Shelley said. The forced air rooms are at about 130 degrees. They are dried in about 20 hours, she told us. “The air drieds take about 7-10 days, depending on the humidity.”
We asked Shelley about the strong smell of the foliage. “Oh, it’ll wipe you out”, she said matter-of-factly. “I’ll come in with my eyes watering and I’m sneezing, and the kids will say ‘Mom’s been out in the yarrow.” But it sells, she says, just as matter-of-factly.

Other types for drying
The other types of yarrow will dry well also. We found a great book on drieds that we have to mention called Dried Fresh Flowers From Your Garden, by Elizabeth Bullivant (Pelham Books/Stephen Greene Press). It is a very practical book about small scale flower drying, very professionally written. Mrs. Bullivant appears to be one of those “Grand Dame” English gardeners in the mold of Gertrude Jekyll or Thalassa Crusoe. The book is full of photos of her 7-foot tall delphiniums and her hedges of hydrangeas spilling blooms onto her manicured lawn. She sits around on patios, stripping stems with Nobs, Molly and Doreen, her octogenarian helpers. The photos are luscious, especially from a parched, Texas perspective, and the information is very usable and down to earth. On yarrow she writes: “…[the flowers] must be left until the color has slightly faded and each floret has become well developed with a ‘bobble’ in the middle. It is then ready to pick.” Well. we don’t use the word “bobble’” here in Texas, but we think we know what she means.
It’s a great book and we got it at a local garden center. It’s probably available through most bookstores.

The fresh post-harvest handling of achillea can be a bit tricky. The flowers must be mature enough that the pollen is showing, otherwise the stems are too weak and will droop. We always use a hydrator to pick into, and we have found that picking the stems the last thing at sunset greatly improves the post-harvest survival. Fresh achillea is a very tender cut flower – never let it dry out. It will last several days in cold storage, and should last about 5-7 days in the vase. Always use floral preservative.

Where to buy plants
There are many wholesale producers of achillea plants. We have bought divisions before from Walter’s Gardens, in Michigan (888-925-8377). They do a nice big division that can be chopped up into several clumps. We have also bought cuttings from North Creek Nurseries in Pennsylvania (610-255-0100). They sell 72 cell trays and have a wide variety selection, especially of the millefolium types. They have an availability list on their website: www.northcreeknurseries.com
When we get these tours out at the farm, we like to pretend that we are the Texas equivalent of Mrs. Bullivant. After a box lunch picnic under some trees, we lay out buckets of flowers and the guests all sit around stripping stems and making bouquets, just like Nobs and Molly, except that we’re not wearing quaint sweaters because it’s beastly hot! We feel that it is terribly important that people are able to see the farm and see where their food and flowers come from. It is a lot of work for us, but for several hours we have a captive audience, and we use it to explain the importance of small family farms and sustainable farming. We use the time to talk about water issues, and pesticides, and community. And 75 people leave the farm as loyal customers with a personal connection to the flowers they see the next week in the store. They tell their friends, who tell their friends, and before long a large base of loyal fans is built up. And they are all growing ‘Colorado’ yarrow in their yards, thinking about our farm!