Yarrow
If you are into flower arranging of fresh or dried flowers you will love yarrow as it creates such a big beautiful splash of colour in any arrangement. The flower heads vary from about 2-6ins across with green/greyish stems. To dry them, cut them in their prime and then hang upside in small bunches in an airy place but out of the sun. (We hang ours at the back of the garage).
Yarrow
One of those garden plants that should be included in any garden design. The flower heads provide a wonderful splash of colour in any border. Yarrow or Achillea millefolium has been grown by gardeners for centuries mainly for its medicinal properties. It is also sometimes known as devils nettle or milfoil. Our yarrow seems to like the soil here and just gets bigger every year without too much attention. It also attracts butterflies and bees however this year apart from the cabbage white butterfly I have only seen a couple of butterflies and those where when we took a trip to Beth Chatto gardens. Where have all the butterflies gone?
Butterflies in our garden
Each year we seem to have fewer and fewer butterflies and bees in our gardens. Although we have Buddleia, Lavender, wallflower, Marjoram, Thyme, Yarrow just to name a few of the nectar rich flowers that butterflies love growing in the garden even this has not encouraged any so far. My neighbour too commented on this subject. So whats happening to our butterflies? Being a little concerned about this issue I checked out the tips provided by the Butterfly Conservation organisation just to make sure we were doing the right things and have joined the Big Butterfly Count 2012. It will be interesting to see the results and conclusions of this survey.
