Silver Groundsel (Dusty-Miller)
Senecio cineraria. ASTERACEAE (COMPOSITAE).
Planting and Growing Silver Groundsel
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow silver groundsel in the accompanying table’s tabs:
-
- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of silver groundsel
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for silver groundsel
- Season of bloom and planting time for silver groundsel
- When, how deep, and where to plant silver groundsel
- How to plant silver groundsel
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of silver groundsel
- Landscape and container uses of silver groundsel
- Comments about silver groundsel and its features
Growing Silver Groundsel
Many cultivars of dense, semi-erect, mounding, shrublike, evergreen perennial herbs, to 2 ft. (60 cm) tall. Woolly, gray green to silvery white, stiff, lacelike, blunt-lobed, fragrant leaves, 2–6 in. (50–150 mm) long.
Many plants in different genera bear the common name dusty-miller; none are closely related to silver groundsel.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Many pale to bright yellow, round, multirayed flowers, 1/2‑in. (12‑mm) wide, in round, branching clusters on stiff, short stems, to 18 in. (45 cm) tall, in late spring– early autumn. Grown primarily for foliage.
Best Climates
Hardy. Zones 3–10.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Rich. 6.5–7.5 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring in full sun, 1 ft. (30 cm) apart, after frost hazard has passed.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep damp; allow soil surface to dry between waterings. Fertilize monthly. Propagate by cuttings, division, seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for accents, beds, borders, containers, geometric plantings in cottage, formal, rock gardens. Aphid, mealybug, thrips and powdery mildew susceptible.