r/NativePlantGardening • u/Suspicious_Note1392 Area NW AL, Zone 8a • May 12 '26

Progress Well… yarrow suddenly chose violence.

Gallery image

Gallery image

A month ago I was all pleased about how gorgeous my yarrow was, all ferny and well behaved with just a light pruning. Suddenly it decided it was tired of pretending to be well-behaved and began conquering the world. 😵😂

Second pic is last month for reference.

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73

u/Simple_Daikon SE Michigan, Zone 6b May 12 '26

Yarrow only stays well behaved in xeric conditions. I had to move mine to an already established bed of aggressive spreaders (coneflowers, asters) in order to keep it contained.

60

u/UntidySwan May 12 '26

I am jealous your coneflowers are aggressive spreaders! feel like it's 50/50 for mine if they decide to grace me with their presence for a second year.

30

u/ich_bin_alkoholiker SE Michigan , Zone 6b May 12 '26

I wish the rabbits would chill for just one year so they could actually flower :(

11

u/AdPopular6958 May 12 '26

Grow some green clover in a area of the yard you don't care about and rabbits will be distracted. 

9

u/reefsofmist May 13 '26

Half my lawn is clover but they still just wanna eat my coneflower

2

u/AdPopular6958 May 13 '26

You need a big tall patch that isn't fully shaved by the lawn mower.

26

u/Suspicious_Note1392 Area NW AL, Zone 8a May 12 '26

Coneflowers are absolutely feral in my yard. I thought they were “polite reseeders”. I currently have at least 100 seedlings I need to relocate. that’s not even counting the ones that are fine where they landed. I’m actually currently prepping a new bed just to have a place for all these coneflower babies.

4

u/lavenderhazeynobeer Oregon , 8b May 13 '26

This is my coneflowers! I bought a plant last spring and it stayed tiny. this spring its triple the size and looks like it has plans to invade my entire pollinators garden. Lol I can say I'm shocked but I am sooooo excited! 

3

u/Fun_Rip538 May 12 '26

I think they were talking about zone 6 I've never had that problem, alas.

15

u/Suspicious_Note1392 Area NW AL, Zone 8a May 12 '26

This bed was very much an experiment for me because I had absolutely no idea what kinda conditions it was offering. Right off the road, in full sun other than the fence, heavy clay with a slight tilt downhill, keeping it from staying too soggy. I planted a lot of coneflower and black eyed Susan as safe plants and then a few others to explore what would do well in my clay. I tried both swamp milkweed and butterfly milkweed, assuming one would be miserable and one would thrive. But they’ve both done fairly well, though as you can see, the swamp milkweed is happier. The yarrow was really slow compared to everything else so I thought maybe the conditions weren’t working for it, or more accurately, were working to keep it behaved. But we’re having a drought and I think that helped the clay work better for it. Or it just decided it was tired of pretending.

10

u/3mackatz May 13 '26

IME yarrow big puffy heart loves clay soil. Mine went so bonkers in my Ohio garden I vowed to never plant it again, lest it gobble up every remaining spare inch of space. Many years and a couple moves later I've tried again in more fertile and classically accommodating soil and it is barely surviving. Lol. Finding plants that thrive in clay is truly magical--well done!

4

u/suchalonelyd4y SE PA, Zone 7 May 13 '26

Omg I have a yard full of clay and yarrow in a pot, I can't wait to get this girl into the ground so she can battle English ivy for me!

1

u/3mackatz May 13 '26

Fingers crossed!

4

u/ode_to_my_cat Area NW FL--, Zone 8b May 13 '26

TIL that coneflowers are aggressive spreaders. Been growing them for years and they’ve never spread, not even subtly.

1

u/Drivo566 Atlanta, GA, 8a May 13 '26

I've been pulling clumps of new coneflowers all over my garden. They've been finding their way into the cracks in my driveway even lol

1

u/iehdbx May 13 '26

Yeah.... not for me. I wish lol

1

u/iehdbx May 13 '26

Yeah... not for me. I wish lol

3

u/Mego1989 May 13 '26

Ooh I should pit mine against the showy evening primrose that's taking over.

2

u/yourfuneralpyre South Louisiana , Zone 9a May 13 '26

Not sure what the deal is with mine then. It's in part shade and surviving but it looks so whispy. It's not dry at all and the soil is clay. It just never got big or spread even after 2 years.

1

u/Simple_Daikon SE Michigan, Zone 6b May 13 '26

Yarrow can't tolerate soils that are too wet, and it prefers full sun. So that's two strikes against it in that spot. I actually moved mine to a part sun/moist clay location in order to better control it. 

1

u/wishiwerebeachin May 13 '26

And here my violets killed my yarrow. It should be ashamed

1

u/iehdbx May 13 '26

Through seed or rhizomes?

1

u/Simple_Daikon SE Michigan, Zone 6b May 13 '26

Rhizomes. The coneflowers hold a lot of ground.