Achillea millefolium (Common Yarrow) – Paprika

Description: A lovely, fast growing perennial with an upright mounded habit; featuring ferny green leaves and bright red colored blooms during the summer months; perfect addition to garden beds, borders and fresh cut arrangements

Ornamental Features: Paprika Yarrow is smothered in stunning tomato-orange flat-top flowers with creamy white eyes at the ends of the stems from early to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive tomentose ferny leaves remain grayish green in colour throughout the season. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.

Landscape Attributes: Paprika Yarrow is an herbaceous perennial with a mounded form. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.

This is a high maintenance plant that will require regular care and upkeep, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Spreading
• Self-Seeding

Paprika Yarrow is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing: Paprika Yarrow will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers to grow in average to dry locations, and dislikes excessive moisture. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in poor soils. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selection of a native North American species. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Paprika Yarrow is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as ‘filler’ or as a ‘thriller’ in the ‘spiller-thriller-filler’ container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.