Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

23.6 in

In-row spacing

23.6 in

Between rows

2 ft 6 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type

Flower · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Sunlight

Sun or partial shade, and a few of them will take deep shade.

Watering

Drought-tolerant once established, though it wants water through a long dry spell.

Feeding

Mulch with compost in spring and skip the rich feeds.

Frost tolerant

Yes

Flowering

May

Pruning

Cut it back hard after the first flush and it will bloom again.

Through the year

• Mar–May Spring Growth
• May–Aug Flowering
• Aug–Oct Growing
• Oct–Dec Leaf Fall
• Jan–Mar Leaf Fall

Companions

Roses, Alchemilla, Lavender, Nepeta

Pests & problems

• Sawfly Sawfly on the foliage
• Vine weevil Vine weevil grubs at the roots
• Downy mildew Downy mildew as well
• Powdery mildew Powdery mildew across the leaves

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Beneficial nematodes Steinernema & Heterorhabditis spp.
  Hunts Vine weevil

  Microscopic worms watered onto damp soil that hunt down soil-dwelling grubs and release a bacterium that kills them within days. Timing is the whole thing: warm, damp soil and a small target grub, which means late summer for most of what they are used against.

• Frogs & toads Anura
  Hunts Vine weevil

  A resident toad works the beds every night for slugs, cutworms, and weevils. Recruit them with water — even a sunken basin pond — plus damp shade and an upturned-pot toad house; skip the slug pellets that poison their prey.

• Ground beetle Carabidae
  Hunts Vine weevil

  Fast, glossy night hunters that patrol the soil surface for slugs, cutworms, and root-fly larvae. Give them daytime cover — thick perennial edges, stepping stones, a log — and skip the tillage that wrecks their burrows.

  Plant nearby LavenderMintThyme
• Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus
  Hunts Vine weevil

  A European animal, and worth saying so plainly: there are no hedgehogs in North America, and the ally that does the same night shift here is the toad, the opossum or the ground beetle. Where they do occur, cut a gap in the fence and skip the pellets.

• Parasitic wasps Braconidae & Trichogramma
  Hunts Sawfly

  Tiny, stingless wasps that lay eggs in or on caterpillars, aphids, and moth eggs — the white cocoons riding a hornworm are their calling card, so leave that caterpillar be. Umbel flowers with shallow nectar keep the adults fuelled.

  Plant nearby CilantroDillFennelLovageParsleySweet alyssumYarrow
• Spined soldier bug Podisus maculiventris
  Hunts Sawfly

  A predatory stink bug — same shield outline as the pest, but with a sharp spine at each shoulder and a beak it uses to spear caterpillars and beetle grubs. Learn the spines before you squash a shield bug, because this one is on your side.

  Plant nearby DillFennelSweet alyssumYarrow
• Tachinid fly Tachinidae
  Hunts Sawfly

  Bristly, house-fly-lookalike parasitoids that lay eggs on caterpillars, beetle grubs, and earwigs — the maggot consumes the host from within. Adults sip nectar from shallow umbels and daisies.

  Plant nearby CilantroDillFeverfewParsleySweet alyssum