feverfew
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Feverfew ( Tanacetum parthenium, aka chrysanthemum parthenium)
In late spring to early summer feverfew explodes into a profusion of tiny white daisies in wide clusters atop long, sturdy stems. They make very pretty bouquets on their own, and are perfect as filler flowers to tie a bouquet together.
The foliage is strongly aromatic. While some people don’t like it, I love it. The leaves usually get removed when harvested so they don’t emit the fragrance in a bouquet.
No, they aren’t weeds!
Feverfew has gotten a reputation for being “aggressive” or “weedy” and “spreading its seeds everywhere”. I strongly feel this is undeserved! I have grown feverfew in so many different conditions and I have never seen it proliferate and become close to being a problem.
First of all, if you do the basic maintenance on the plant that you should do, you’d be cutting off the flower stems before they set seed. Harvest your flowers and they won’t be reseeding! An extra benefit to harvesting before they go to seed is that you greatly increase the likelihood of getting more flowers later in the season.
Secondly, if you’ve had to let them go and reseed, and I have, there usually aren’t that many volunteers and…they are not difficult to pull out! They’re easy to identify, too. I really want to dispel this myth, it seems to linger around this plant and may prevent people from planting it. There are so many other weedy plants out there, please don’t be afraid of this one!
Good as an herbal remedy, too
Feverfew is often used as an herb in treating migraines. Both the leaves and young flowers are used for this. They can be used fresh or dried. This is beyond my scope here, but there’s lots of information out there, and this is the plant you’d be looking for.
Benefits:
Feverfew benefits your garden by attracting beneficial insects!
This is a great flower to use as a filler to tie colors together.
Lasts: Up to 2 weeks in the vase.
Characteristics:
Leaves are lacy and strongly aromatic. When not in bloom the plant is about 1 ft. tall and wide. When in bloom the flowers reach 2-3 ft. tall. Foliage is dark green. But few varieties have a brilliant chartreuse color, making them real stand-outs in the garden, especially in the winter.
Flowers are little white daisies, single flowers, while a few varieties have double to fully double white flowers.
Conditions:
Full sun to part shade.
Feverfew is not too fussy about soil; a good garden soil with some mulch is best.
It can survive periods of drought, or water weekly or even bi-weekly.
Favorite Varieties:
The straight species gives tons of long-stemmed single daisies;
‘Aureum’ has golden, chartreuse foliage;
‘Tetra’ and ‘White Wonder’ both have have almost fully double flowers with a little dot of a center showing.
Sources:
Many seed catalogs and nurseries carry seed for the feverfew species and the variety ‘Tetra’ and ‘White Wonder as well as ‘Aureum’ can be found in nurseries in spring, in 4” pots. Specialty nurseries often carry the plants.
Starting your feverfew:
Easy to start by seed. The seeds are tiny and like to have light to germinate. So I just barely cover them with soil to help them stay moist and to keep them from splashing out of their seed cells.
Planting:
Plant seedlings when large enough to handle. Four inch pots right away.
Space 1 -1 ½ ft. apart.
Care & Pruning:
I tend to water my perennials every two weeks in the summer I water deeply and infrequently-enough to get the water deep into the soil profile so the roots can pick up water for longer from the soil. Mulch the plants to conserve the water that’s been applied.
No special pruning, just remove unharvested flower stems at the base to encourage growth as new stems later in the season, and prevent seed production.
Harvesting:
Harvest when flowers are freshly open and anthers are still closed up tight. Cut stems at the base, remove the foliage at the bottom. Plunge into your clean bucket of warm water.
Post-harvest Handling
No special instructions.
Flowers That Go Well With Feverfew
Lavender: blooms at the same time as feverfew and adds a vertical element to a bouquet
Alstroemerias: perennial flower that blooms all season long, available in a variety of colors
Scabiosa: perennial flower in white and shades of blue, with long stems for tall and short bouquets
Delphinium: bloom at the same time as the main flush of feverfew, adds intense color and a vertical element to feverfew bouquets
