ERIOGONUM UMBELLATUM

Description

With evergreen, woolly grey foliage and brilliant bright yellow blooms from late spring through late summer, this is a valuable and very rarely-seen groundcover. Occasionally purple flowers have been seen! Extremely tolerant of drought and heat as well as cold, this dwarf, bone-hardy, slow-spreading, long-lived, alpine gem thrives in dry, hot exposed spots, indeed, it is happy in perfect drainage to the point of living in gravel, even in areas that are too poor to support most plant life. In the wild it lives in ranges west of the Rocky Mountains. Although it assumes star roles in drought-tolerant landscapes, it is so adaptable that it also thrives in humid climates.

Sowing Advice

For best results, sow immediately onto a good soil-based compost. Cover the seeds with fine grit or compost to approximately their own depth. They can be sown at any time, and germination can sometimes be quicker if kept at 15 to 20 degrees C. We sow most seeds in an unheated greenhouse and wait for natural germination, as many seeds have built-in dormancy mechanisms, often waiting for natural spring germination, hence giving them a full season of growth.

Key Facts