Yellow meadow rue
Thalictrum flavum subsp. glaucum ·
Fluffy heads of soft sulphur-yellow flowers top tall stems clothed in handsome, blue-grey, divided leaves in early summer.
- Size
- 5 ft tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Late June to mid July
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around yellow meadow rue
The planner designed this bed around yellow meadow rue 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 yellow meadow rue stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Yellow meadow rue × 3, yellow
- 2 Mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' × 24, yellow
- 3 Winter heath × 5, pink
- 4 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Purple milkweed × 3, purple
- 7 Tulip 'Apeldoorn' × 5, red
- 8 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 3, purple
Why this plant
- The only plumes. The others are daisies, bells, flat plates and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 5 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 purple milkweed (3 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 five weeks. From late June to mid July.
- Fills a gap. For one of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 6 of the 7 groups (86%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Something is in flower for 37 weeks, from late January to early October. Hot colours (yellow and red) with pink and purple as the cool notes.
The planner's own design check: 9 Excellent, 7 Good, 1 Satisfactory. 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 yellow meadow rue goes in a border
At 5 ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is tall (4 to 5 ft). It is airy enough to see through, so it can also come forward and veil what is behind it.
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
A classic English border plant: the pale yellow and glaucous blue go beautifully with delphiniums and blue cranesbills. It may need support in rich soil.
- Blue-grey foliage with pale yellow flowers
- The back of a border
- Cut flowers
What to plant with yellow meadow rue
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Delphinium: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for five weeks.
- Siberian iris: low enough (2½ ft) to stand in front of it; happy in the same moist soil.
- Cranesbill 'Rozanne': blue against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for five weeks; low enough (18 in) to stand in front of it.
Questions about yellow meadow rue
Does yellow meadow rue need sun or shade?
Yellow meadow rue 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 yellow meadow rue grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 8. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °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 yellow meadow rue flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late June to mid July. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 5 | Late June to mid July |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Late June to mid July |
| Zone 7 | Mid June to mid July |
| Zone 8 | Mid June to mid July |
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 yellow meadow rue be planted?
24 in (60 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is about its full width, so each plant keeps its own outline.
It grows 5 ft (150 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many yellow meadow rue plants do I need?
At 24 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 3 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 6 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 10 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is there a native plant like yellow meadow rue?
Yellow meadow rue is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Giant coneflower: the same job in a bed, the same flowering time and the same colour; 12 in taller, bold leaves, not fine.
- Culver's root: the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers early July to mid August, white or lavender, not yellow.
- Carolina lupine: the same job in a bed and the same colour; 12 in shorter, flowers late May to late June.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after yellow meadow rue?
Yellow meadow rue is over by mid July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Russian sage: from mid July to mid September, 4 ft tall.
- Tiger lily: from late July to late August, 4 ft tall.
- Garden phlox: from mid July to early September, 3½ ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does yellow meadow rue look like in winter?
Yellow meadow rue 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 Thalictrum
- Chinese meadow rue 'Hewitt's Double' Thalictrum delavayi 'Hewitt's Double'
- Columbine meadow rue Thalictrum aquilegiifolium
- Lavender mist meadow rue Thalictrum rochebruneanum
- Meadow rue 'Black Stockings' Thalictrum 'Black Stockings'
- Rue anemone Thalictrum thalictroides
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 5 ft (150 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 24 in (60 cm) apart
- Height class
- Tall (4 to 5 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back, or further forward: it is airy enough to see through
- Flowers
- Late June to mid July; feathery plumes; yellow
- Leaves
- Fine texture, herbaceous; blue-green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 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.