Amazing Yarrow Plant Benefits: How To Grow Yarrow, Care Tips, and Warnings

Image Credit: Hans³³

The common Yarrow’s versatility doesn’t end with reclaiming land as you can use it in your garden for attracting different types of butterflies and other pollinators, as a garden border, or simply for its incredible beauty when it blooms.⁴

Whatever your reasons for planting the common Yarrow Plant, you should know how to grow and care for it to enjoy its benefits. This extensive guide discusses the amazing Yarrow Plant benefits, how to grow Yarrow, care tips, and warnings, and answers the frequently asked questions about Yarrows.

Yarrow Plant Facts: How To Identify Yarrow Plant (Achillea millefolium)

The Yarrow Achillea millefolium¹⁵ is an herbaceous, long-blooming perennial plant that blooms best when grown in full sun. Therefore, its ideal habitat is the open meadows with direct sunlight.

The Yarrow’s beauty may have gone unnoticed for a long time, leaving it to thrive as a wild plant. The native Yarrow Plant is known for its distinctive white flowers. However, you can discover that with the introduction of hybrids, the Yarrow has many varieties that have caught the attention of gardeners.¹⁰

Here’s how to identify Yarrow Plant and some Yarrow Plant facts:

Yarrow Leaves

Yarrow leaves are unique and cannot be mistaken to belong to any other plant. Its name ‘millefolium’ is Latin and means ‘thousand-leaved’ about its dense, feathery foliage resembling thousands of leaves.

They are divided alternately on the leaf stalk and then finely cut into distinctive fern-like pointed lobes extending up to 5 inches.

Yarrow Flower

The common wild Yarrow blooms into clusters of beautiful types of white flowers that appear flattened at the top. Newer varieties of the Yarrow Plant may have canopy-shaped clusters with different colors, including yellow, red, pink, orange, and purple flowers.¹⁰

The Yarrow flower is a powerful magnet for butterflies and other pollinators. Since the plant has a long blooming time, you can see these incredible visitors in your garden throughout the season.

Yarrow Seeds

Yarrow seeds appear at the top of the flower clusters, so you can easily see them when identifying a Yarrow Plant. They are tiny and may be of different colors depending on their parent plant variety.

To harvest the seeds, you should wait until the flowers have wilted and the seed heads are dry. Cut off the flower heads and rub the seed heads against a piece of paper. Sieve out the tiny yarrow seeds and store them safely.

Yarrow Root

Yarrows have deep rhizome roots that penetrate the soil and hold the plant firmly. Yarrow root can grow up to 20 cm deep and absorb key nutrients like potassium, magnesium, copper, calcium, and phosphorous for plant growth.

Yarrow Herb: Medicinal Yarrow Benefits

Although no scientific evidence backs claims that common Yarrow is good for medicinal purposes, you can discover that its leaves and roots are used for many medicinal benefits.⁵

Some of these uses include the following:

• To alleviate digestive issues like indigestion, heartburn, and inflammation due to irritable bowel syndrome
• To stop bleeding and treat wounds when applied directly to an open wound
• To prevent wound infection and accelerate wound recovery
• To promote blood circulation and help regulate the menstrual cycle
• When applied on the skin, the yarrow herb helps to soothe eczema and other skin conditions

Yarrow Varieties: Types of Yarrow and Yarrow Colors

Most of the Yarrow varieties in ornamental gardens are hybrids of the common Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, and not new species of the Achillea genus.¹⁹

They are called cultivars and have similar growth characteristics as the common Yarrow, except for the different flower colors.

(Image: AnRo0002²⁷)

Some of those cultivars include the following:

Apple Blossom

The apple blossom is a hybrid Yarrow cross between Achillea millefolium and Achillea taygetea.³

It grows to form clumps of soft pink flowers on its sturdy stems. The flowers bloom early in the summer and are about 3 inches wide.

Moonshine

The Moonshine Yarrow is a favorite for gardeners who prefer planting the Yarrow Plant in their potted or cottage gardens.

The plant blooms into radiant yellow flowers that attract butterflies and various types of bees to your garden.

Red Velvet

Vibrant red flowers are common among plants that attract hummingbirds. So, the Red Velvet Yarrow is an excellent variety choice for your garden because of its beautiful cluster of red flowers that hummingbirds and butterflies love.

According to horticulturalists,¹² Achillea is a versatile genus that offers you a wide selection of Yarrow Plants for your garden needs. For example, it has smaller varieties that fit well in a potted or cottage garden and taller varieties that can naturalize your garden in a prairie style.

This table shows some types of Yarrow you’d love for your garden:

All these species do well in mainly sunny areas with well-drained, loose soils. Therefore, if you have a garden screaming out for some ground cover and a burst of colors, any yarrow varieties can do the job for you.¹⁴

How To Grow Yarrow

The Yarrow is the type of plant that requires the least of your attention. Whether you care for it or not, it grows and thrives in any condition.

(Image: Ayotte, Gilles, 1948-²⁹)

However, you need to know how to grow Yarrow correctly to avoid its possible invasive nature that could disrupt the growth of other plants, especially when grown with companion plants.⁸

Planting Tips for Yarrow Plant

While the Yarrow is a tough plant, there are a few things to keep in mind to ensure it thrives in your garden. Therefore, consider the following planting tips for Yarrow Plant before planting it:

• Check the climatic conditions in your area and determine whether they are warm enough for the yarrow plant to thrive. If the climate is humid and wet, your Yarrow Plants may not do well.
• Choose a suitable planting time when the Yarrow seeds can sprout right away. They have a better chance if planted when there’s no frost.
• Consider whether the plants already in your garden are good companion plants for the Yarrow. If not, you can choose to remove them from your garden or plant the Yarrow in a different location.
• Choose a Yarrow Plant variety suitable for your garden, depending on your local climatic conditions.

Best Growing Conditions for Yarrow Plant

The Yarrow Plant is hardy and resilient.²⁰ Therefore, it survives even in unpleasant climatic conditions like droughts and poor soils.

Planting Yarrow as an ornamental plant in your garden requires you to know how best to take care of it to get the best result.

Therefore, here are the best growing conditions for Yarrow Plant which allow it to flourish.

Soil

Yarrow’s hardiness allows it to adapt easily to any type of soil. However, the best soil type for Yarrow is dry and well-drained, found in USDA hardiness zones 3-9.

If you plant a Yarrow Plant in wet soil types, you discover that it undergoes aggressive vegetative growth and spreads its rhizomes uncontrollably.²

(Image: Ayotte, Gilles, 1948-²⁸)

However, if you plant it in dry soil, you can control its growth and prevent a situation where it spreads all over your garden, even to unwanted spaces.

Light

Yarrow Plants grow best when exposed to enough sunlight. The stems become strong and are able to hold the plant upright. They also bloom profusely into clusters of beautiful flowers, brightening up your ornamental garden.

On the other hand, when planted in a shaded area, the Yarrow grows into a long, spindly, weak plant that requires support. It continues to grow without blooming as it searches for some sunlight.

Water

After planting Yarrow Plants, you need to water them regularly until the roots are established in the soil. Enough water will help the soil to settle better around the rhizomatous roots and propagate growth.

Once the roots are firm in the soil, you can water your Yarrow Plants lightly every week to encourage blooming and maintain growth. Keep the watering moderate, as too much water can encourage unwanted growth and give you more work as you try to control the spreading rhizomes.

Temperature

Most Yarrow varieties thrive in the summer when the temperatures range between 65°F and 75°F.

The warm temperatures promote blooming and help reduce the chances of disease invasion.⁶

(Image: Thayne Tuason³⁰)

When planted in cooler regions, you are likely to discover that your yarrow plants are more prone to fungal diseases like root rot.

Growing a Yarrow Plant From a Seed

The best way to propagate yarrow plants is through seeds.

They germinate fast, and within no time, the Yarrow Plants are blooming.

(Image: Steve Hurst³¹)

For the best results, adhere to the following steps when planting Yarrow:⁷

1. Find high-quality seeds for the Yarrow variety you want to plant in your garden. You can harvest them directly from existing Yarrow Plants or buy them from the nearest store. Store-bought Yarrow seeds are better because they are treated and certified as disease-free.
2. Since you need to pre-germinate the seeds before sowing them in your garden, prepare the seeding tray, ensuring that it meets the best-growing conditions for growth.
3. Sow the Yarrow directly onto the medium you have prepared, ensuring that the seeds are not covered. Yarrow seeds need light to germinate, so covering them limits their germination.
4. Water the soil lightly to make it moist. Too wet or too dry soil conditions hinder the seeds from germinating.
5. Place the seeding tray in a warm place, preferably on an indoor window sill with direct sunlight, to give enough warmth to the germinating seeds.
6. Wait for the seeds to germinate within 10-14 days. Ensure that you water the soil often to maintain the moisture levels.
7. Once the seedlings are out, place the tray outdoors where they can harden in the weather outside. Do this a week before you transplant them to your garden.

Transplanting the seedlings gives better results than planting the seeds directly into your garden. You can determine where to plant the seedlings and organize their growth in the garden, unlike when you sow seeds directly and cannot control how and where they germinate.

Growing a Yarrow Plant From a Seedling (Yarrow Seedlings)

Once the seedlings are ready, you need to transplant them as soon as possible to establish their roots before summer. Therefore, the best time to transplant Yarrow seedlings is in mid-spring when the weather conditions are perfect for growth.²¹

When growing a Yarrow Plant from a seedling, the first step is to prepare the garden. The preparation requires you to do the following:

• Ensure you have the best soil mix to foster the seedlings’ vigorous growth. It should be well-drained and slightly acidic. You can add some organic fertilizer to boost the availability of essential nutrients for the plant.
• Consider the space you leave between the Yarrow Plant and other plants in the garden. The ideal spacing should be at least 1-2 feet.⁴
• Ensure the planting area receives at least six hours of full sun daily so the Yarrow Plants can grow strong and bloom in time.

Once your garden is ready, follow these steps to plant the yarrow seedlings successfully:

1. Dig holes wide and deep enough for the yarrow seedlings, considering the plant has long rhizome roots. Ensure the holes are no less than 18 inches apart for better growth.
2. Since the seedlings were in a tray, the soil around the roots was quite compact, holding the roots together. So, before transplanting, massage the root area gently to loosen the compact soil so that the roots can integrate easily with the soil in the garden.
3. Place the Yarrow Plant in the hole and cover it with loose soil until the root ball is completely covered. If necessary, add more soil and compress it gently to ensure the plant is firmly held in the ground and you’ve achieved a proper planting depth.
4. After transplanting, water the plant generously, ensuring the soil is not overly saturated but moist enough to grow well.
5. Since moisture is a key factor for the transplanted Yarrow Plant to establish its roots in the ground, ensure that you mulch properly at the plant’s base after watering. The mulch prevents the water from drying out and regulates the temperatures around the plant.

Watering Needs for Yarrow Plants

The Yarrow Plant is natively a drought-tolerant plant that thrives in hot and dry conditions. When it comes to watering needs for Yarrow Plants, small amounts of water are enough to keep it going, especially after it has established a good root system in the soil.

Newer plants, like transplanted seedlings, may require more water until firmly rooted in the ground.

If they are not watered well, you can discover signs like leaves turning yellow and the plant drooping. Such plants eventually die if not watered immediately.

On the other hand, overwatering may attract diseases like root rot and may have signs of drooping, and then the plant dies.

So, how often should you water the Yarrow Plant?

Recently transplanted Yarrow Plants can survive on only 1 inch of water per week. You can add more water if the soil is well-drained because it encourages deeper root growth, better than shallow roots.¹¹

If you are in a region where summer rain is frequent, you may not need to water Yarrow Plants because the rainwater does the job for you.

Gardeners who grow the Yarrow Plant in a potted garden may need to water it more often because the pot dries out faster than the soil in the garden. However, the type of pot you are using for growing the Yarrow Plant determines how fast it dries up and how often you should water it.

Ensure that the pot is dried out before you water the plants. Therefore, check the pot daily for the soil’s moisture levels and add more water if necessary.

The best time to water your Yarrow Plants is early in the morning so that the water can soak deep into the soil before the hot sun dries it up.

How Long It Takes To Grow Yarrow Plant

So, how long it takes to grow Yarrow Plant? If planted in the right soil conditions, light, and moisture, the seeds begin to sprout in 10-14 days, and you can transplant them into your garden. However, they can take longer to germinate if the temperatures are lower. So, it’s okay to place a heating pad below the seeding tray to increase the warmth of the seeding medium.

Once the plants are transplanted into the garden, they take up to 120 days to mature and begin to bloom. Therefore, it’s advisable to plant them early in spring to begin to bloom at the start of summer.⁶

When To Plant Yarrow Plant for the Best Yield

Before you include the Yarrow Plant in your garden or decide when to plant Yarrow, it’s important to define your reasons for planting it and the yield you expect during harvesting. For example, you can plant the yarrow plant as an ornamental plant, cut its flowers for the vase, or harvest the seeds for sale and future re-planting.

So, when to plant Yarrow Plant for the best yield? Yarrow Plants are perfect for harvesting cut flowers because their flowers are brightly colored and develop in clusters. A gardener planting Yarrow for their flowers can have different varieties in the garden and mix up the Yarrow colors in one flower bouquet when harvesting them.

On the other hand, Yarrow Plants planted for their seeds remain in the garden until the seeds are ready for harvesting.

Whether you are planting Yarrow from seeds or stem cuttings, the best time to do so is when there is no frost.¹⁶

Seeds do well when planted in early spring and transplanted in the garden before the summer heat arrives. Tip cuttings are planted in late spring or early summer to develop roots before the summer heat intensifies.

Yarrow Plants from seeds begin to bloom in summer and are perfect for cut flowers. The cut stems sprout again and produce more flowers until the beginning of fall.

Companion Plants for Growing Yarrow Plant

The Yarrow Plant can do well when planted alone. However, if planted in the company of other plants, the Yarrow benefits are notable.

What are the companion plants for growing Yarrow Plant? For example, the Yarrow attracts pollinators like bees, butterflies, and ladybeetles because of its brightly-colored and nectar-filled flowers.¹⁹ These pollinators aid in pollinating other plants in the garden with the Yarrow Plant.

In addition, these pollinators eat pests such as aphids and armyworms common to plants. Therefore, the presence of yarrow plants in the garden helps to keep other plants healthy and free of pests.

Besides attracting insects and pollinators to the garden, the Yarrow Plant is good for shade, and many companion plants can benefit from the shade it provides. Most of these plants are vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.¹³

With that in mind, you can plant Yarrow in your flower garden, where it can benefit other flowers, or in your vegetable garden, where your vegetables can benefit.

Some companion plants for growing Yarrow Plants include the following:²²

Coreopsis (Tickseed)

The yarrow plant and the coreopsis have many similarities that help them co-exist when planted close to each other. For example, they are both perennial plants that thrive in poor soils and long droughts.

Since they both require small amounts of water to flourish, you can water them together once a week, especially in the hot summer.

Cabbage

Cabbage benefits most from the Yarrow’s ability to attract insects that feed on pests. It is one of the plants that pests like cabbage worms and army worms love and may camp there until you have no cabbages left.

When you plant cabbages with Yarrow Plants, you can rest easy because insects like parasitic wasps and tachinid flies feast on the worms and keep your cabbages pest-free.

Cauliflower

The cauliflower is a delicious food source for aphids, cabbage worms, and harlequin bugs. While pesticides can help eliminate these ravaging pests, planting Yarrows in your garden enables you to achieve that goal more naturally.

The Yarrow Plant attracts beneficial insects that feed on the pest, helping you control them in your vegetable garden.

Rosemary

Yarrow and rosemary are excellent companions in dry soils. Therefore, you can plant them in an area in your garden where other plants would not thrive and watch them light up your garden with beautiful flowers every blooming season.

When planting rosemary and Yarrow together, you only have to remember that they grow to different heights and widths, which can hinder their growth if planted too close together. Therefore, ensure you get your spacing right before planting them together in your garden.

Lettuce

Lettuce is a sun-loving vegetable, but the afternoon sun can be too much for it. So, lettuces need a nice shade in the afternoon to keep them away from the scorching sun.

Since the Yarrow grows up to three feet tall, it can make a good shade for the lettuce. Ensure that you plant your lettuce to the east of the yarrow plant and about one foot away from its foot.

What Not To Plant With Yarrow?

The Yarrow Plant is a good companion to many plants because of the benefits they get from it. However, some plants may underperform if planted near Yarrow Plants, especially if they are susceptible to diseases common to the Yarrow Plant.¹³

Some of the plants you should never plant as yarrow companions. Below are the list of what not to plant with Yarrow:

Ginger

Ginger loves its soil moist, even when the weather is hot. On the other hand, the Yarrow Plant is suited for dry soils where it can thrive with little water.

These two plants cannot grow together because of their different moisture requirements. If you have to grow both plants in your garden, ensure they are far apart so you can water them differently according to their needs.

Winter Squash Plants Like Butternuts

Winter squash plants are prone to powdery mildew, a disease that attacks Yarrow Plants often. Unfortunately, if the powder mildew spreads to the squash plants before you control it, it causes huge damage to them.

Besides, the squash plants have vines that trail on the ground and may invade the Yarrow Plants, thus disrupting their growth.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are quite invasive and grow sprawl, which can overwhelm the Yarrow Plants and limit their growth. On the flip side, the Yarrow Plants may introduce the powdery mildew disease to the cucumbers, which can kill them quickly.

Another reason why cucumbers and Yarrow Plants cannot grow together is that cucumbers do not grow as tall as Yarrow Plants. Therefore, the tall Yarrow Plants can shade out the low-lying cucumbers, causing stunted growth and developing fungi infections.

Yarrow Care: Pest and Disease Control for the Common Yarrow

Yarrow Plants are virtually disease-free and are not attacked by many pests. However, if the growth conditions and Yarrow care are unmet, the Yarrow Plant becomes susceptible to diseases.²³ 

For example, if the Yarrow is planted in a poorly drained soil type, the plant is likely to develop root rot, as the wet soil harbors fungi that cause the disease.

Other diseases that attack the Yarrow Plant are gray mold and powdery mildew. The gray mold is a fungal disease that strikes in cool and damp weather conditions. It affects the flowers, forming molds around them, and the fruits begin to rot.

The powdery mildew forms white patches on the leaves and can spread to cover the entire leaf. It spreads quickly to other plants, including companion plants grown with the Yarrow.

Although the fungal disease doesn’t kill the Yarrow Plant, it may significantly reduce yields, especially if you are growing Yarrow for ornamental purposes.

Other than pests and diseases, the Yarrow Plant may have to deal with weeds. If you visit your garden and find some weeds among your Yarrow Plants, you can identify them easily and know the organic weed killer recipe to use.

To identify weeds by photo, you should pull out your phone’s camera and take a picture of the weed. Search the weed online for a match.

Common Pests of the Yarrow Plant

The Yarrow Plant knows well how to keep pests at bay because of its strong pest-repellent characteristics. However, common pests of the Yarrow Plant like aphids, spittlebugs, and flea beetles find the succulent Yarrow foliage irresistible.

Look at the Aphids. They always go for the greenest and juiciest part of the plant. Their favorite part is on the underside of new shoot leaves, where there is a lot of sap for them to suck.

Once aphids attack your Yarrow Plants, they attract more pests to your garden through their honeydew excretion.¹⁷

On the other hand, flea beetles target small-flowered plants such as the daisy flower, Yarrows, and alyssum. They usually lay eggs on the plant and reproduce fast, causing a massive infestation of your Yarrow Plants.

Since they reproduce so fast, the flea beetles can easily eat all the foliage on your plants and cause them to die.

Unlike other pests that feed on your plants in the open sun, the spittlebug has a way of keeping itself cool. As its name suggests, it spits a foam-like substance that covers it as it feeds on the yarrow foliage.

The foam-like spit helps you to identify spittlebugs in your garden and control them before they damage your yarrow plants.

Unfortunately, if the Yarrow Plant is grown with companion plants, the pests can easily cross over to them and cause unprecedented losses. For example, aphids love vegetative plants like cabbages and lettuce and would easily attack them if they are grown together with an aphid-infested Yarrow Plant.

Natural Pest Control for Yarrow Plant

As a gardener, you want to use as little pesticides as possible, especially if you have other plants like vegetables in the garden. Thankfully, the Yarrow Plant has its way of repelling pests, especially those that destroy small flowering plants with the help of natural pest control for Yarrow Plant.

Secondly, the Yarrow Plant attracts some beneficial insects like ladybugs, lacewings, and hoverflies as they come to feed on the nectar. These friendly insects feed on aphids and flea beetles, eliminating them from your garden.

Planting the Yarrow Plant in your garden is like investing in an unbeatable pest control method that stops pest infestation and maintains a good ecosystem in your garden.

How To Stop Yarrow Plant Diseases

Common Yarrow Plant diseases include basal root rot, gray molds, and powdery mildew.²⁴

While the Yarrow Plant can remain disease-free for a long time, it’s best to prepare yourself on how to stop Yarrow Plant disease.

Basal Root Rot

The root rot thrives in poorly drained and highly fertile soils as they harbor different fungi that affect the Yarrow Plant. For example, wet soils harbor the Pythium fungus, and fertile soils have the Rhizoctonia fungus, which is responsible for causing root rot in the Yarrow Plant.¹

You may not notice this disease right away because it affects the roots. But, if your plants are affected, you notice a slower growth rate and poor yields. The roots and the bottom part of the stem may appear dark as the fungi continue to harm it.

The solution to basal root rot is to plant the yarrow in drier soil. If a large part is already affected, you can destroy the Yarrow Plants and grow new ones in a well-drained, less fertile location.

Gray Mold

The gray mold in Yarrow Plant is a seasonal disease that comes in the wet season only.²⁵

It takes advantage of the closeness of Yarrow Plants, especially when the foliage is large.

(Image: Ninjatacoshell³²)

You can identify it easily on your plants because it develops molds on plant tissue, leaves, and flowers, making them look dull.

When planting Yarrow, ensure that you follow the recommended spacing of at least 18 inches so that they don’t become too close.  Also, proper spacing allows the plant to dry off fast when it rains, so no water is retained in the leaves and flowers.

When the cold season passes, and the sun is up again, the gray mold clears on its own, leaving the plant to flourish and bloom in time. To prevent further spread, you can remove the affected plants and bury them in the ground or use them for compost.

Powdery Mildew

Other fungal diseases affecting the Yarrow Plant are usually spread through water or soil because they act as mediums where the fungi replicate. Powdery mildew is different. It spreads through the air as the wind blows the spores from one plant to another.

You can know this disease easily because of the white patches it forms on the upper side of the leaves.

Therefore, a Yarrow Plant with powdery mildew appears weak and slows down its growth pattern.

The Yarrow Plant may not die because of the disease, but you’ll notice slow growth and reduced yields.

For example, if you use the Yarrow as cut flowers, you may not harvest much because of the white powdery substance on the leaves and flowers.

Treating the powdery mildew is easy because you can use suitable pesticides or remove and destroy the infected plants. To prevent this disease, ensure that the yarrow plants are exposed to full sun and are properly watered.

The Yarrow plant offers a number of benefits, and by using some simple care tips, you can ensure that yours will flourish.

Frequently Asked Questions About Yarrow Plant