You may be one of the poeple who have seen Dusty Miller growing somewhere, but had no clue as to what it was called. You might be calling it that silver or gray plant you saw as a border somewhere. Maybe you were just out in a public park and marveled at its stature there in a colorful garden of various flowers. Then again, you may have seen it growing along the roadside somewhere in your travels. Where ever you saw this silver marvel, you may not ever forget how it left such an impression upon you.
Dusty Miller is an unusual plant to grow, but is such an accent to anyone’s garden or yard. What quite a few people don’t know about this odd plant is that it does flower. The tiny yellow flowers it turns out in late spring to early summer, sometimes in the fall, are like a bobber on top of these silver plants. When allowed to flower you will undoubtedly be putting out the welcome mat for butterflies, bees, and possibly hummingbirds. Most gardeners who grow dusty millers cut the flowers off to promote more leaf growth similar to growing mums.
A striking plant that speaks its beauty seems to make it stick out like an Ivory Tower. With such a grandeur look, many have used this plant as backdrops to their low growing flowering plants. Around this time of year, you can find them with begonia and alyssum in many gardens in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This combination is not as popular in Texas, but there are far more dusty millers planted in Texas than Oklahoma. A local bed and breakfast here in Allen, has them growing all year long.
Of course to do such a thing one would have to keep the soil moist and replenish the nutrients in the soil as they deteriorate over time. Preferring a warm climate and rich well drained soil, dusty miller can be a tedious plant to try and grow. Not withstanding, this plant is hearty against disease and pests. This would assuredly make it an excellent border to any vegetable or fruit garden. If you have had pests in the past around say your tomato and okra plants, plant a few dusty miller around them as complimentary plants and watch them get better. Of course, you still need to tend to the infestation.
Should you choose to use this plant as a deterrant to your vegetable or fruit garden, you may want to take measures to ensure this by investing in some ladybugs. Just because you planted dusty miller doesn’t mean that it is a sure fire way to protect your plants. There are ladybug houses you can post in your garden, and your local gardener may already have some dormant ladybugs to place in the garden.
Fenceless yards could use a border of this dusty miller. Why? This is a popular plant for detering rabbits, deer, sometimes cats, and moles. You may want to space them an inch or two closer as a yard border than what is recommended since they will have plenty of room to grow. This will also be more of a barracade to rabbits. Two different plants to suggest as inner borders to dusty miller are vinca (deters as well) and Mexican heather. Both of these are a nice accent in color to dusty miller. As the additional blockade, alternate the planting so that the vinca or Mexica heather is not planted directly across from the dusty miller.
Do you have empty spaces in your green garden that could use some color? Here again is another way to make use of dusty miller into it. Incorporate dusty miller where ever you want. You may find that you have a sunny window that could use an accent to it. A simple wooden table with this plant potted and sitting on top of it would liven up that dreary window of yours. You may keep your door opened when home and a glass door locked. Don’t you know that this would be an eye catcher for anyone to come visit as it sets in your foyer.
Maybe you just need a garden, period. You could start of with the dusty miller being the center of attraction and go from there. Maybe you have some monkey or mondo grass you want to border that garden with, or say some petunias. That would make a great contrast to the silver background. Then you could fill in the rest with mums and alyssum or whatever you so choose. Plan it out well and you could have flowers all year long. You may want to plant some viloas and violets for winter, and bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush for next spring. Although, wait on the latter to plant in the fall as they need time to germinate and make a well established root system.
One of the most capivating garden arrangements is giant red salvia growing behind dusty miller. You could even grow the smaller version of red salvia as a border in front of these two as well. Just about any flowering plant would look fantastic with dusty miller growing with it. It is almost as if dusty miller is saying, “Look at me!”
