Achillea ptarmica ‘Peter Cottontail’

PHOTOS: MARK DWYER

I take lots of photographs of plants. With many perennials, it’s a challenge to catch peak timing within the best window of flowering. Every now and then, I run into an amazingly long-blooming perennial that I find myself photographing over many months. The ‘Peter Cottontail’ sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica) is one such perennial that I have come to appreciate for many reasons not the least of which is taking snapshots of this extremely photogenic plant flowering strongly from June into October. The long bloom time for this drought tolerant, low maintenance perennial should endear ‘Peter Cottontail’ sneezewort to more gardeners as the possible applications for this variety are limitless.

Reaching about 18 inches in height and expanding as a low-growing mound to about 30 inches in width, ‘Peter Cottontail’ features glossy, dark green, narrow, lance-shaped leaves and presents a fine texture. Starting in early summer and going strong until fall, the small (1/2 inch), button-like, double, ivory-white flowers hover in cloud-like masses. It is constantly generating new flowers over the hottest of summer months. In my Wisconsin garden, this variety starts blooming in June and literally has flowers until hard frost. Preferring leaner soils and tolerant of urban pollution, it’s important not to plant it in overly rich soils or apply any fertilizer which will encourage more vegetative growth at the expense of flowering.

This species, related to common yarrow (Achillea millefolium), is native to Europe and western Asia and is tolerant of a wide range of soils. Avoid areas of poor drainage and tidy the plant up in early spring before new growth emerges. This is a very easy perennial to divide and relocate. I’ve grown other selections of sneezewort although this distinctive variety is definitely the most refined and has slightly larger flowers. Used commonly as an edging plant in full sun, this perennial is also utilized in container arrangements and the showy white flowers are excellent as fresh or dried cut flowers.