The Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow, otherwise known as the Achillea Millefolium or White Yarrow, Common Yarrow, Western Yarrow, Yarrow, Milfoil, is a somewhat well known perennial plant native to the Northeast, Rocky Mountains, Southeast, Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest of the United States.
Best known for its low maintenance and moderate growth, this perennial will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
This is why all the topics you need to know in order to achieve this will be covered in this Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow Care Guide. Ready? Let’s go!
But if you prefer to watch a short video instead, check it out here:
In order to take proper care of your Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow you’ll need to keep in mind the following guidelines:
- Water: The Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow grows best with watering each week. Increase the frequency of watering when it gets hot.
- Light: Keep your Achillea Millefolium in an environment where it can receive full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining properties, so ideally, one made of sand, chalk, and loam.
That’s it – sunlight, water and soil! The basic 3 fundamentals for all plant care, and with the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow this is no exception. With these three elements, your leafy friend will live healthy and happy.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow belongs to the Asteraceae family, the genus Achillea and the species Millefolium, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Achillea Millefolium (a-KIL-lee-uh mill-ee-FOH-lee-um).
As with other Achillea’s, the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow is a herbaceous plant, which means it will die back to the ground every year.
Growing Region
The Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow is a plant native to the North America, Europe western Asia, and garden hybrids. This is why the Achillea Millefolium is used to growing in specific regions such as the states in Northeast, Rocky Mountains, Southeast, Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest of the United States.
As a rule of thumb, we recommend to always keep in mind your plants’ native region and environment, since these are the conditions that your Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow is most accustomed to, thus where it can most favorably.
With this in mind, the Achillea Millefolium will be most used to the heat zones in the 1 – 9 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5b, 5a, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b and the ideal climate zone is between 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, A1, A2, A3.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow is a relatively moderate grower, which makes things somewhat easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But what exactly does this mean for your Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow? How large a pot should you consider, how tall, how wide can it get? Let’s jump in…
The Achillea Millefolium can grow up to 2′ – 3′ (60cm – 90cm) in 2′ – 3′ (60cm – 90cm) and 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm) in 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm).
These dimensions make the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow a relatively medium perennial compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
Also, expect it to grow in a wonderful mounding, and upright shape, which is something worthwhile to remember when making your garden landscape plans.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 18″ – 24″ (45cm – 60cm) free so the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow is a fairly simple plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a straightforward watering schedule and somewhat regular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Achillea Millefolium grows best with watering each week. Increase the frequency of watering when it gets hot.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively low needs in terms of water.
Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, occasionally dry, and occasionally wet properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow then you should consider the famous ‘finger’ test. To perform this test, you just need to put your finger in your plant’s soil and determine if it’s moist or not. If it is, then don’t water; if it isn’t, then please do. In any case, this test will allow you to know if your Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow prefers to have soil with good drainage, occasionally dry, and occasionally wet properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand, chalk, and loam.
This is why most experts agree that the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow requires soil with high organic matter, loam (silt), and sand, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably alkaline, acid or neutral soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow requires full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this perennial will do well as long as you keep it in full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Achillea Millefolium in full and direct sun (more than 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being a herbaceous plant, the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow will die back to the ground every year.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the summer (early, mid, late).
Flowers
You can expect your Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow to flower around the summer months from July to September (summer).
In particular, this perennial is well known for its long bloom season, flowers for cutting and showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow produces some beautiful orange, or red/burgundy, purple/lavender, gold/yellow, cream/tanorange, pink, and white flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow have a beautiful green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a compound (pinnately, bipinnately, palmately) and simple arrangement with an alternate and rosulate organization in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Achillea Millefolium to be around (1-3 inches) in size.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow is well known for being able to attract butterflies, so keep that in mind when choosing your plant, as you’ll likely end up finding one or another in your garden.
Additionally, it has a special tolerance for dry soil, drought and animals like deer and rabbit, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Achillea Millefolium will be fine.
Garden
How should you then organize your garden to include your new Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow? Here are some recommendations by expert gardeners.
Most Achillea Millefolium owners agree that this perennial will look great in most rustic, cottage mediterranean, and xeric gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of informal and cottage, coastal garden, gravel and rock garden, and in prairie and meadow styles.
In particular, the Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow’s best location within your garden is in beds and borders, others use it for landscaping in a mass planting, firescaping/ fire wise, coastal exposure, border, container, cutting garden, or a rock garden.
Companion Plants
Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Gaillardia, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Rudbeckia will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
So that’s it! These are the main plant care requirements that you need to keep in mind in order to have a healthy Desert Eve™ Terracotta Yarrow in your garden or home.
