Plant Finder

Group/Class:  Firefly Collection

Brand:  Proven Winners

Description:

Luminous yellow flowers that remain attractive as they age, light up the garden all summer long; a vigorous selection with an upright habit and strong stems; excellent for hot, sunny, dry locations in the garden

Ornamental Features

Achillea, Firefly Sunshine Yarrow features showy yellow flat-top flowers at the ends of the stems from early to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive tomentose ferny leaves remain dark green in color with hints of grayish green throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Achillea, Firefly Sunshine Yarrow is an herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other garden plants with less refined foliage.

This plant will require occasional maintenance 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

Achillea, Firefly Sunshine Yarrow is recommended for the following landscape applications;

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

Planting & Growing

Achillea, Firefly Sunshine Yarrow will grow to be about 28 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 28 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 24 inches apart. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to dry locations, and dislikes excessive moisture. To help this plant achive its best flowering performance, periodically apply a flower-boosting fertilizer from early spring through into the active growing season. 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 particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. 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.

Achillea, Firefly Sunshine Yarrow is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. 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.

Special Attributes

Achillea or Yarrow will need to be watered during the growing season, in the Lower Columbia Basin there isn't enough rainfall during the growing season. The amount of water and regularity depends on the your soil, the wind and the heat variables at different times.