Yarrow 'Terracotta'
Achillea 'Terracotta' · Asteraceae
Flat heads open burnt orange and fade through peach to pale gold, over silvery, feathery leaves. The colours of a sunset on one plant.
- Size
- 2½ ft tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late June to late August
- Pets
- Toxic (mild)
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around yarrow 'Terracotta'
The planner designed this bed around yarrow 'Terracotta' 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 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why yarrow 'Terracotta' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Yarrow 'Terracotta' × 3, orange
- 2 Winter heath × 8, pink
- 3 October daphne × 5, pink
- 4 Foxglove beardtongue × 5, white
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Lanceleaf coreopsis × 8, yellow
- 7 Allium 'Gladiator' × 3, purple
- 8 Lady tulip × 8, white
Why this plant
- The only flat plates. The others are bells, dense clusters, spires and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only orange.
Why here
- At the back. At 2½ ft it is seen over lanceleaf coreopsis (20 in) in front of it, and has nothing behind it to hide.
- A step in the back row. Next to foxglove beardtongue (3½ ft) and allium 'Gladiator' (4 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 11 weeks. From late June to late August.
- Fills a gap. For 7 of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 6 groups (83%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Winter heath repeats along the bed to tie it together. The flowering is at its height in late June, with 4 kinds out together.
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 yarrow 'Terracotta' goes in a border
At 2½ ft it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium tall (2½ to 3 ft).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
A favourite of the new perennial movement, because every stage of the flower is good and the seed heads stand into winter. It weaves warm colour through grasses without shouting.
- Naturalistic planting with grasses
- Warm colour schemes
- Seed heads left for winter
What to plant with yarrow 'Terracotta'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Prairie dropseed: in flower together for three weeks, from mid August; happy in the same dry soil.
- Meadow sage 'Caradonna': purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for four weeks.
- Purple coneflower: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for 10 weeks.
Questions about yarrow 'Terracotta'
Does yarrow 'Terracotta' need sun or shade?
Yarrow 'Terracotta' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does yarrow 'Terracotta' grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °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 yarrow 'Terracotta' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late June to late August. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Late June to early September |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late June to early September |
| Zone 5 | Late June to late August |
| Zone 6 | Late June to late August |
| Zone 7 | Mid June to late August |
| Zone 8 | Mid June to late August |
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 yarrow 'Terracotta' 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 2½ ft (80 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many yarrow 'Terracotta' 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 a group of three or five, with a second group further along in the other number.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is yarrow 'Terracotta' poisonous to dogs and cats?
Yes: mild toxicity to dogs, cats and horses. Can cause vomiting and drooling in pets if eaten. The sap may irritate sensitive skin.
Rated from the ASPCA. Where references disagree, the more cautious rating is used.
Is there a pet-safe plant like yarrow 'Terracotta'?
These come closest to doing what yarrow 'Terracotta' does, and no toxicity is recorded for them:
- Sunset hyssop: the same job in a bed and the same colour; 8 in shorter, flowers mid July to mid September.
- Red valerian: the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers late May to early September, red, pink or white, not orange.
- Prairie coreopsis: the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers mid June to mid July, yellow, not orange.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after yarrow 'Terracotta'?
Yarrow 'Terracotta' is over by late August. 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.
- Bottle gentian: from late August to early October, 20 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Garlic chives: from late August to mid September, 20 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does yarrow 'Terracotta' look like in winter?
Yarrow 'Terracotta' dies down, but leave the stems standing: the seed heads stand through the winter. Cut them down in early spring, before the new shoots come.
More Achillea
- Fernleaf yarrow 'Cloth of Gold' Achillea filipendulina 'Cloth of Gold'
- Fernleaf yarrow 'Coronation Gold' Achillea 'Coronation Gold'
- Sneezewort 'The Pearl' Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl'
- Woolly yarrow Achillea tomentosa
- Yarrow Achillea millefolium
- Yarrow 'Cerise Queen' Achillea millefolium 'Cerise Queen'
- Yarrow 'Moonshine' Achillea 'Moonshine'
- Yarrow 'Paprika' Achillea millefolium 'Paprika'
In these guides
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 2½ ft (80 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium tall (2½ to 3 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Late June to late August; flat plates; orange, yellow
- Leaves
- Fine texture, herbaceous; grey-green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Asteraceae
Checked against ASPCA poison lists. 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.