Anaphalis margaritacea
Pearly Everlasting
- Slightly to very dry soils
- Full Sun to light shade
- 24” tall, 12” to 18” wide, spreading to form a patch
- Early summer blooms followed by eye catching seed heads well into the fall
- Ontario Native, Thrives in dry to very dry, rocky or sandy sites. Adapts well to hot, sunny gardens
Small, pearly white, round blooms appear in mid summer, with visually fairly similar, but functionally distinct, male and female blooms being held separately, most often on separate plants. Those flowers mature into seed heads that stand well into the fall. Flowers and seed heads (after the tiny, fluffy seeds have dispersed) dry easily and can be added to dry flower arrangements and wreaths.
As a, seemingly preferred, host species for American Lady caterpillars, it isn’t uncommon to find evenly newly introduced plants with their leaves bunched together by some gauzy silk as they are consumed by a hungry creature with awesomely spiky defensive hairs, that will eventually transform onto a butterfly with fascinatingly detailed wing patterning.
They grow to between 1’ and 2’ in height, with a similar spread and thrive in hot dry settings where the difficult conditions keep competition from other species to a minimum.
These would share space reasonably well with other heat and sun loving species like Heath Aster, Nodding Onion, Orange Butterfly Weed, Prairie Smoke, Black-Eyed-Susan and Little Bluestem, among others.
