Herbs – A Perennial to Attract Beneficials to your Garden

Golden Marguerite is one of the best hardy perennial herbs you can have in your gardens and borders to attract the wide range of beneficial insects that work for you in keeping the bad bugs to numbers you can live with.

Its formal name is Anthemis tinctoria and it’s also known as yellow chamomile.

Tachinid flies, lacewings, ladybugs, parasitic mini-wasps and hover flies are all attracted to its cheerful yellow daisy like flowers that provide them with pollen and nectar. They need this to sustain them before their main food source (bad bugs) becomes available.

Provided it has good drainage it will grow almost anywhere and will produce flowers from late spring through summer.  Pinching in the spring will encourage bushiness, and cutting the spent flowers encourages extended bloom through October.

I keep mine in the garden to assist my beneficials and keep them close at hand..  The soil is “richer” there and as a result, Golden Marguerite gets leggy and floppy out from the center.  When the blooms start to wane I cut it back, which encourages new growth and in addition extends it’s bloom time. After bloom is finished I prune to the crown.  The new growth that comes after that will help protect the plant in the winter and you’ll have a beautiful plant again the following spring.

Plants grow about 18 to 30″ high and spread about 2 feet and like at least 6 hours of sun each day.  They don’t require a lot of care, but need some attention as mentioned above.

Year before last I forgot about mine and allowed them to be shaded out with tomatoes and lost them. Last year I put in new plants.  This year I’ll start more new ones from cuttings off existing plants so I can distribute them throughout my garden.

Marguerite is suppose to reseed itself easily but I’ve never had it do that in my garden.

To get new plants I take divisions or cuttings from new growth in early summer.

If you want a great looking group of plants to harbor beneficials and bees in your garden, plant anthemis tinctoria with short ornamental grasses and daylilies. Daylily leaves provide some support for the long stems of Marguerite and arching form of the grass is a great compliment to the other two plants

The grasses also provide excellent shelter for beneficials not only in the growing season, but for overwintering.

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Related Posts:

• Flowers – Needed in A Vegetable Garden?

• Flowers to Help Bees Help Your Garden

• Your Gardens – Perennial Flowers – MidSpring Bloom

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