Everlasting (Strawflower)
Helipterum roseum (syn. Rhodanthe chlorocephala ssp. rosea). ASTERACEAE (COMPOSITAE).
Planting and Growing Everlasting or Strawflower
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow everlasting in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of everlasting
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for everlasting
- Season of bloom and planting time for everlasting
- When, how deep, and where to plant everlasting
- How to plant everlasting
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of everlasting
- Landscape and container uses of everlasting
- Comments about everlasting and its features
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Growing Everlasting or Strawflower
Many cultivars of upright, branching herbs to 2 ft. (60 cm) tall. Alternate, green, lance-shaped, narrow leaves, to 2-1/2-in. (63-mm) long. An Australian native plant, introduced to Europe in 1799.
True strawflower (Xerochrysum bracteatum, formerly Helichrysum bracteatum), is a related, separate family of similar plants native to the Mediterranean and northern Africa.
Common cultivars include Helipterum roseum ‘Accroclinium’ and ‘Rhodanthe’.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Showy, solitary, rose, white, daisylike, layered flowers, to 2 in. (50 mm) wide in summer–early autumn. The flowers’ colorful and papery ray “petals” are stiff modified leaves, or bracts, while the central disks are dense clusters of true, tiny flowers. Everlasting if dried.
Best Climates
Self-seeding, zones 3–10.
Soil Type and Fertility
Damp, well-drained, sandy loam. Fertility: Rich–low. 7.0–7.5 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring in full sun, 1 ft. (30 cm) apart, after frost hazard has passed. Start seed indoors 6 weeks before final frost for early blooms; transplant when soil warms.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep damp; allow soil surface to dry between waterings. Drought tolerant. Fertilize quarterly. Propagate by seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for beds, borders, containers, foregrounds in cottage, meadow, small-space gardens. Good for cutting, drying. Pest and disease resistant.