bill-both my red and white yarrows are blooming like mad. but others have trouble getting them to bloom. i exercise benign neglect--they have ok soil, get water when it's really dry, and sometimes when i remember get fertilized... yarrow's kinda fussy, tho. i've had mine just collapse on hot days and take weeks to rebloom.

Is the white yarrow you have blooming Mary's yarrow?

Bill, I feel your frustration! I've had the exact same problem with the garlic chives. We've had them for years and a few years ago the patch was huge and since mom was redoing the bed the chives were in we thinned them. I gave away several pots of the chives to different people. Wouldn't you know every single pot we gave away promptly started blooming before the people were even able to plant them! They were still in the same soil they had been growing in for years so it wasn't the soil that was the problem. Some people set their pots in shade, some in sun, some in a mix of sun and shade so the amout of light was not the issue. To this day we have not gotten the garlic chives to bloom in either my yard or my mom's. This spring I added another clump from the original plant to my front flower bed so maybe I'll finally get to see these things bloom. Mom also moved her's to a completely different part of the yard. I'm not going to give up until the plants either die of natural causes or they bloom for me! LOL

As for the yarrow, well mom somehow kills them every single time she plants them, which is sad since she really likes them. I was given several plants this year at the swap at my house which are now planted in various spots in the back garden around the dogwood tree. Some get more light then others so we'll see how they do. One of the white ones is blooming but then again it was already blooming when it was given to me!

Hope you have better luck with both plants in the future! At least with the garlic chives they can still be used in cooking even if they never bloom. I often used them in place of shallots when I don't feel like running out to the store to buy some.

Kara

yes, bill. mary's. they've spread pretty rampantly, too... mary's only started to bloom for me a couple weeks ago.

Kara, now I'm really discouraged. If you and your mom can't get them to bloom, I don't think there's much chance I will. Still, I'm going to keep trying. But I've tried them in so many different situations without success that I don't know what else to try.

Ill, how close is your yarrow (Mary's yarrow) planted to your walk? I'm wondering if proximity to concrete or stone may have something to do with its blooming. (Maybe the lime?) Doesn't Mary have hers growing beside a rock? And the yarrow at kanapaha was right by the side walk. . . Just a guess. I'm going to move Mary's to another spot and see what happens.

Thanks.

Bill

Bill, I do hope you get yours to bloom. I love it just for the blooms ever since I saw Kate,s (solstice), but haven't been able to locate the garlic chives. Did you plant yours from seeds or what is your source? Anybody in Brevard know where to get garlic chives? My regular chives is full of blooms right now, but just not quite the same. Let us know if moving your plants helped.

Ginny

Well, The yarrow that Judy gave me,three weeks ago,is less then a foot tall,started to bloom yesterday. Judy was not sure if it was from her white or red yarrow,so now
I know that it is red. I am so happy to have this yarrow.
I tried yarrow at a different home over thirteen years ago
and it died. I have never tried it again. I think they grow and bloom better when a good, loving,friend gives one to you. That is what I think.
Thank you Judy.
Felix
Felix

Bill, I have a neglected garlic chive plant in the ground that is at least 10 years old and I have not seen it bloom. I didn't even think that it was supposed to. My older yarrow grows lush but no flowers--ever. So, you are not alone.

Christine

Ginny, I'll send some garlic chives with Kathy next time she visits me, if you like.
And mine seem to bloom when 'bothered'. I have one bunch I cut frequently (for cooking) and it blooms ... not throughout the year tho. the other bunch I don't touch and it never bloomed.

Judy's pink yarrow blooms for me.
Could it be that white yarrow is just not for this zone? I know it is a weed in Germany... and the colored yarrows are cultivars maybe they can take the heat better

Evelyn, thanks, would love some.

My white yarrow bloomed one cluster, but it's young. I love the ferny foliage.

Ginny

The white yarrow is perfect for zone 9 .
It will often not bloom at all if it receives nitrogen and not enough sun .
I have two beds of it . The older bed is blooming . Full blazing sun all day and no fertilizer - ever . Rough conditions .
The other yarrow bed gets full sun but has veggies interplanted so it has been fertilized and mulched . Currently no blooms but it has flowered this year - earlier .
This plant is a native of Florida . It grows throughout the US except in very southern Florida .

so this yarrow is a 'weed' and therefore does not want to be fertilized. sounds easy enough :)

right next to the concrete in both cases...

the red yarrow goes through phases--it grows upright, flowers profusely, then the stems fall and the flowers fade. you have to cut back the recumbent stems/spent flowers, which keeps the center growing and flowering. you can see some upright stems in the middle of the last pic--they're getting ready to bloom.

mary's right about the long time to adapt/recover. it took about a year for my red yarrow to really get established and bloom consistently.