Great burnet
Sanguisorba officinalis ·
Small, dark maroon, thimble-like flower heads float on tall, thin, branching stems above a clump of neat, toothed leaflets, from midsummer to autumn.
- Size
- 4 ft tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Mid July to early September
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Weaver
A bed built around great burnet
The planner designed this bed around great burnet when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why great burnet stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Great burnet × 3, red
- 2 Mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' × 16, yellow
- 3 Winter heath × 7, pink
- 4 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 5, tan
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Slender mountain mint × 3, white
- 7 Schubert's allium × 2, pink
Why this plant
- The only red.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 4 ft it is the tallest plant here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to slender mountain mint (2½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one clump. A single spire is too slight to hold a place alone, so here the accent is a clump.
Why now
- In flower for 9 weeks. From mid July to early September.
- Part of the bed's peak. With little bluestem 'The Blues' and slender mountain mint in early August: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 5 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Winter heath, fine in leaf, stands next to bold-leaved silver sage, and each shows the other off. Little bluestem 'The Blues' and great burnet anchor the back corners of the bed: the tallest plants on the plan stand there.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 5 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where great burnet goes in a border
At 4 ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft). It is airy enough to see through, so it can also come forward and veil what is behind it.
Its job: weaver. A light, airy plant threaded singly between sturdier ones to knit the planting together.
A favourite of naturalistic planting: the tiny dark heads hover like a swarm above paler flowers and grasses. Scatter single plants; a solid group loses the effect.
- Dark dots above naturalistic planting
- A see-through layer among grasses
- Moist meadows
What to plant with great burnet
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Switchgrass 'Shenandoah': its green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after.
- Japanese anemone: in flower together for four weeks, from mid August; happy in the same moist soil.
- Feather reed grass 'Karl Foerster': in flower together for nine weeks, from mid July; happy in the same moist soil.
Questions about great burnet
Does great burnet need sun or shade?
Great burnet grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day) and part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun).
It wants soil that stays evenly moist, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does great burnet grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 8. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does great burnet flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid July to early September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 4 | Mid July to early September |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Mid July to early September |
| Zone 6 | Mid July to early September |
| Zone 7 | Early July to early September |
| Zone 8 | Early July to early September |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should great burnet be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 4 ft (120 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many great burnet plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, threaded between sturdier plants.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is there a native plant like great burnet?
Great burnet is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Grey-headed coneflower: the same job in a bed, the same size and the same flowering time; yellow, not red, medium leaves, not fine.
- Burnet 'Tanna': the same job in a bed, the same flowering time and the same colour; belongs at the front, not at the back, 2½ ft shorter.
- Blue sage: the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers late August to mid October, blue, not red.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after great burnet?
Great burnet is over by early September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Blue wood aster: from mid September to mid October, 3 ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Montauk daisy: from mid September to late October, 3 ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does great burnet look like in winter?
Great burnet dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
More Sanguisorba
- Burnet 'Tanna' Sanguisorba officinalis 'Tanna'
- Canadian burnet Sanguisorba canadensis
- Japanese burnet Sanguisorba obtusa
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 4 ft (120 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back, or further forward: it is airy enough to see through
- Flowers
- Mid July to early September; globes; red
- Leaves
- Fine texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Average, evenly moist
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.