Re: achillea not thriving

theclan@cruzio.com wrote:
> 
> barbara, i remember reading somewhere years ago about yarrow
> poisoning the soil it is in after a while so it has to be moved
> sorry, that is all i remember
> maura
> p.s. please excuse my crude 1hand typing

I see no-one else seems to have had an answer to this and I don't really
think I have either. In my garden the wild white and pink yarrow come up
in several places including my back lawn, and as far as I know last
indefinitely. However I have several times bought some of the new pretty
hybrids and planted them in similar places (in one case up on a terrace
where a wild pink one has flourished for years,) and after only two,
sometimes only one, season they have simply died out.
My feeling was that they must have been weakened in constitution during
the breeding process, as I couldn't think of any other explanation.

Apropos of the one in the lawn. I welcome it there as this is really an
"ecolawn"
and any low-growing species is cherished which is not too aggressive but
will remain green over dry weather. This particular patch is difficult
to keep that way, as it overlays rock, but the yarrow doesn't seems to
mind at all.

A common reason for plants dying out is not that they have "poisoned"
the soil but that that they have run short of some essential nutrient.
Perhaps we should try a yearly light topdressing of a rich compost.

Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
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