Pronounciation: A-KIL-lea mil-li-FOL-e-um

Hardiness zones
Sunset 2-24
USDA 2-11

Landscape Use: Annual or perennial accent, mixed flower borders, dried flowers, medicinal gardens.

Form & Character: Basally clumping, except when bolting to flower, recessive and refined, delicate, yet tough.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous perennial grown as a cool-season biennial in Phoenix. Basally clumping, except for spring when this plant bolts to flower. Height varies but is generally less than 2 feet.

Foliage/Texture: Green to gray, rosetting to alternate on flower stalks, lanceolate leaves, pinntified to 4 inches; fine texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Single or multiple corymbs (flat and radial to concave) on unbranched or branched peduncles, multiple colors including yellow; fruits are compressed achenes.

Seasonal Color: Spring

Temperature: Cold hardy, but fades fast in full sun when temperatures in Phoenix daily exceed 100^oF starting in May.

Light: Full sun as a cool-season annual, partial light shade as a year around perennial.

Soil: Tolerant

Watering: Regular water needed during warmer weather, but will also take some cool season drought.

Pruning: If grown as a perennial, cut back flower stalks in summer after bloom.

Propagation: Seed, often part of wildflower mixes.

Disease and Pests: None

Additional comments: Common yarrow is an old-fashioned garden border perennial that is rarely found in central Arizona desert landscapes anymore, although it's common elsewhere in the United States and is broadly distributed around the northern hemisphere. There are many, many new selections with many different flower colors, including the compact, white flowering 'Sonoma Coast'.

Various factoids and legends: Common yarrow has a long medicinal history that dates back to the Trojan war. The genus name, Achillea is from Achilles, the famous Greek warrior from 'The Iliad & The Odyssey' by Homer. Common yarrow contains the anti-inflammatory compound, azulene.