Mountain avens
Dryas octopetala · Rosaceae
A woody, ground-hugging mat of tiny, oak-like leaves, dark above and white beneath, with flowers like small white dog roses and then feathery, silver seed heads.
- Size
- 3 in tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 2 to 6
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late May to late June
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Carpet
A bed built around mountain avens
The planner designed this bed around mountain avens 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 mountain avens stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Mountain avens × 5, white
- 2 Bloody cranesbill 'Max Frei' × 5, pink
- 3 False sunflower 'Summer Sun' × 3, yellow
- 4 Brown-eyed Susan × 5, yellow
- 5 Dwarf English boxwood × 1, dark green leaves
- 6 Eastern bee balm × 3, pink
- 7 Greigii tulip × 12, red
- 8 Schubert's allium × 3, pink
Why this plant
- The only white. White sits between stronger colours and calms them.
Why here
- On the front edge. At 3 in it frames the bed without hiding it, and it is in leaf all season. It finishes 56% of the edge.
- 5 plants in one run. An unbroken run of one kind gives the edge a clean line.
Why now
- In flower for five weeks. From late May to late June.
- Part of the bed's peak. With bloody cranesbill 'Max Frei', eastern bee balm and Schubert's allium in late May: 4 kinds at once. No week has more.
- One of two evergreens. They are what the bed has to show from November to March.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 5 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The most in flower at one time is 4 kinds, from late May. Hot and cool in equal measure: yellow and red against pink, with white to calm things between them.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 7 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 mountain avens goes in a border
At 3 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is ground-hugging (up to 6 in).
Its job: carpet. A groundcover planted in threes and fives to cover the soil: along the front, and just behind it.
An Arctic and alpine plant that needs cold winters and cool summers. Where it is happy, on a gritty slope in the North, it is one of the finest evergreen carpets.
- Rock gardens in cold climates
- Trailing over rocks and walls
- Feathery seed heads
What to plant with mountain avens
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Pasque flower: flowers first, early April to early May, so the spot is never empty; tall enough (10 in) to stand behind it.
- Sea thrift: in flower together for four weeks, from late May; tall enough (8 in) to stand behind it.
- Bearberry: in flower together for two weeks, from late May; tall enough (8 in) to stand behind it.
Questions about mountain avens
Does mountain avens need sun or shade?
Mountain avens grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does mountain avens grow in?
USDA zones 2 to 6. It is hardy to zone 2, which means it survives winter nights down to about −40 °F (−40 °C).
Above zone 6 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 mountain avens flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to late June. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 3 | Early June to late June |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late May to late June |
| Zone 5 | Late May to late June |
| Zone 6 | Mid May to late June |
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 mountain avens be planted?
16 in (40 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 3 in (8 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many mountain avens plants do I need?
At 16 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 7 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 8 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 21 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.
In the bed above, the planner used five in one group.
What flowers after mountain avens?
Mountain avens is over by late June. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Black-eyed Susan: from mid July to mid September, 24 in tall.
- Butterfly weed: from late June to early August, 24 in tall.
- Carpathian bellflower 'Blue Clips': from late June to late August, 8 in tall.
What does mountain avens look like in winter?
Mountain avens keeps its dark green leaves all winter, so it is one of the plants that hold a bed together from November to March, when the perennials have gone.
In these guides
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Groundcover plants
- Evergreen perennials, ferns and grasses
- Plants for a white garden
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial (groundcover)
- Size
- 3 in (8 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 16 in (40 cm) apart
- Height class
- Ground-hugging (up to 6 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late May to late June; open bowls; white
- Leaves
- Fine texture, evergreen; dark green
- Shape
- Mat-forming, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 2 to 6
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Rosaceae
Checked against VASCAN (plants of Canada). 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.