Anaphalis margaritacea (Pearly Everlasting)

Award-winning Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) is a tough, attractive perennial valued for its silvery foliage, long-lasting flowers, and exceptional wildlife value. From midsummer into fall, upright stems are topped with dense clusters of small, buttonlike flower heads. Each bloom has a golden-yellow center surrounded by pearly white, papery bracts that resemble petals and remain attractive for weeks, making them excellent for dried arrangements.

The narrow, lance-shaped leaves are gray-green above and white-woolly beneath, with slightly rolled margins that give the foliage a distinctive silvery edge. This soft, muted foliage makes Pearly Everlasting an excellent companion for brighter flowering perennials in sunny borders, meadow plantings, and naturalistic gardens.

Most importantly, Pearly Everlasting is an important larval host plant for the American Lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis). Female butterflies may lay eggs on the foliage, and the caterpillars feed on the leaves and often create silk-bound shelters among the upper growth. In a butterfly garden, webbed or partially eaten foliage is therefore a sign that the plant may be supporting the next generation.

• Recipient of the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.
• Grows in upright, bushy clumps about 2-3 ft. tall (60-90 cm) and around 2 ft. wide (60 cm).
• Blooms from midsummer into fall. The stems die back in winter and new growth emerges in spring.
• Excellent for beds, borders, prairies, meadows, wildflower gardens, and naturalistic plantings.
• Best grown in full sun to part shade in well-drained soil. It performs especially well in sunny, sandy, lean soils and tolerates poor conditions once established.
• The flowers attract bees and butterflies, while the foliage provides food for American Lady caterpillars.
• Drought-tolerant once established. Discover even more stunning drought-tolerant bloomers
• Low maintenance and generally disease resistant. It may spread vigorously by rhizomes and seed where growing conditions are ideal.
• Generally avoided by deer and rabbits.
• Native to North America and parts of Asia.