Propagating Yarrow

Yes, there is an election coming soon, but for me, this time of year is all about next year's garden.

One of the plants I wanted to propagate was the white Yarrow that came to the garden by way of my neighbor's packet of wildflowers two years ago. The Calendulas and Cosmidium did not reappear, but the Evening Primrose, Sweet Alyssum, Catchfly and Yarrow did. I'm not sure why these were touted as wildflowers - to me, they are mostly regular garden flowers.

Anyway, I cut off the flat panicles of Yarrow once they had dried out and tried to separate the seeds from the flower heads. The seeds (upper right) were tiny, gray with white edges, and very hard to pick out from the chaff.

I managed to get quite a few separated. Then somewhere I read about how easy it is to divide Yarrow. Back to the garden with my Japanese hori-hori knife.

Soon I had four clumps of Yarrow instead of one. I cut them way back and planted them, trusting the autumn rains to bring back their ferny foliage.

 Success! The white flowers are Sweet Alyssum, which is also having a resurgence after being cut back. 

Yarrow also comes in many lovely pastel colors. If you have some and want more, divide them now and you'll be rewarded next summer. Fall is a great time for neighborhood plant swaps, too.

I know gardening is not as fascinating as Plainfield politics, but it is a great way to lose oneself in nature and forget about Democrats' inhumanity to Democrats for a while.

--Bernice