No matter where I am , I always judge to notice what is grow around me . Last week I was stuck in dealings on a in use commercial-grade street not far from my theater . Gazing at the gas post on the other side of the Cartesian product , I point out that the owner had installed a long raised planting bed , about 18 ” high , made of the brown cast stone blocks that the mega - merchandisers sell for edging and do - it - yourself walls . What interested me about this peculiar raised bed was that it was not engraft with the common impatiens or petunia or marigolds or Conoclinium coelestinum . It was chock full of tall , glorious lucky yarrow .
Yarrow ( Achillea millefolium ) allegedly got its Romance name because Achilles , fabled in Grecian mythology as the hero of the Trojan Wars , used sweet yarrow leaves to staunch his soldiers ’ bleeding wound . The flora is both utilitarian and ornamental , and has been cultivated for one C . Yarrow , interestingly enough , is a penis of the Compositae family , an enormous kin group , whose members are recognizable by their daisy - form flowers . If you await closely at usual milfoil , you’re able to see that hundreds of petite daisy make up their flat efflorescence straits .
Whoever installed the yarrow at the gas station was right on the mark as far as works selection give-up the ghost . grow bed normally have excellent drainage , and this one is posit in a cheery patch . Yarrow is exceedingly drought tolerant , make it much more probable to survive the heating system and dryness that is undoubtedly an integral part of life on the nether side of a gas station .
The first time I saw milfoil in this part of the world , it was growing in a grassy landing strip between the street and sidewalk near my girl ’s elementary school . Since the strip was mowed with admirable geometrical regularity , the works belike never flowered . Still , the ferny foliage was unmistakable . Yarrow is such a free - range plant that more than a few mass think it is a native American wildflower . Like many other all - American thing , it really originated in Europe and West Asia . fortuitously , the flora is so useful , that it has been welcome wherever it has set seed .
I remember reading that Rasputin , the “ Mad Monk ” of Czar Nicholas II ’s lawcourt , reputedly had the ability to block up the hemophile hemorrhaging of the Czar ’s young son . Yarrow can also barricade leech , without the undesirable property of Rasputin . If you are in a site where someone is bleeding , and there are milfoil plants nearby , simply make a cataplasm of the leaves and lend oneself it to the affected injury . The leaves are also edible , and the flowers , like many other herbal blossoms , can be fix up into a tonic that is mildly diuretic and purportedly helpful in lowering roue pressure ( do n’t try this without your doctor ’s blessing ) .
The milfoil that you find in fields , ditches and the strip show between the sidewalk and the street is unremarkably white , and comparatively scummy growing . Hybridizers have gotten clasp of Achillea , however , and now it is available in a throng of color . In my curtilage I grow Achillea taygetea ‘ Moonshine ’ , which , as you might require , is wan sensationalistic . It lurks beautifully next to some ‘ Munstead ’ lavender and a black over-embellished Canterbury bell shape plant . Next twelvemonth I might mix in a ‘ Coronation Gold ’ milfoil for a nice contrast .
If yellow is not for you , try ‘ Fireland ’ or ‘ Paprika ’ , which are red , or the time - essay Achillea ptarmica ‘ The Pearl ’ , a doubled blanched cultivar . If you like a nice mix of pastel people of color , try ‘ Summer tad ’ in tone of white , pinkish , lavender , yellow and red . Unlike some other Achillea , ‘ Summer Shades ’ has dark green foliage .
Someday , after you have installed Achillea in your garden , take a whiff of the foliage ( specially if your yarrow has hoary - common foliage).They sense of smell skillful enough to justify their existence , even if you never have to make a yarrow poultice to stop someone from phlebotomize .
One more thing . Yarrow also is a expectant add-on to dry out arrangements . The flower head restrain their cast and colors all winter long . To dry them , reap as many as you call for , tie them together and then fall them upside down somewhere with comely air circulation . After a few weeks they will be dry enough to habituate .
Yarrow is one of those essential plants that does everything but load the dishwashing machine . Achilles was good , you should n’t make a garden without it .
by E. Ginsburg
