Hardys Cottage Garden Plants
Verbascum lychnitis
Verbascum lychnitis
Available Summer 2027
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Plants are dispatched in growing condition and may not be in full flower. If too tall to pack safely, we may cut them back — this helps them establish more quickly. Read our Mail Order FAQs.
A frequent question at the Nursery Shop is ‘What will grow in my very chalky, very free-draining soil in full sun?’ Step forward Verbascum lychnitis, which thrives in exactly these conditions. From a basal rosette of hairy mid-green leaves it produces distinctive branching candelabra-like spikes smothered with pale creamy-white or yellow flowers.
Flowering from mid to late summer, in poor alkaline soils the spikes remain upright, but will grow larger and may need support in a fertile soil. Naturally found across Europe and Asia in disturbed habitats and meadows, it is a striking architectural plant for gravel and wildlife gardens, attracting pollinators in abundance.
Please note that this is a biennial Verbascum. Keep seed from faded blooms or allow it to self-sow.
Height × Spread: 120cm × 45cm