Nettle-leaved mullein

Sun

Full sun.

Water

Low once established; water young plants regularly and established plants during prolonged drought.

Soil

Well-drained, lean to moderately fertile soil; tolerates sandy, stony and chalky ground. Avoid waterlogged soil, especially in winter.

Height

3-4 ft (0.9-1.2 m)

Spread

1-2 ft (0.3-0.6 m)

Flowers

Early to late summer; small pale yellow flowers with purple-haired stamens open progressively along branching spikes.

Foliage

A basal rosette of coarse, wrinkled, toothed green leaves, with smaller leaves up the stems. Usually dies back in cold winters but may retain some basal foliage in mild climates.

Growth

Moderate; flowering stems develop quickly during spring and early summer.

Care needed

Low

• Pollinators
• Deer resistant
• Drought tolerant
• Wildlife
• Low allergen

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Easy

Toughness

Very tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   1 ft (0.3 m)

2. After 1 year

   1.8 ft (0.55 m)

3. After 2 years

   2.6 ft (0.8 m)

4. After 3 years

   3 ft (1.1 m)

   full size

About 3 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Safe

Growth rate

Moderate

• Plant in full sun with the crown at soil level and plenty of drainage.
• Water through the first growing season, allowing the surface soil to dry between waterings.
• Avoid rich feeding; excess fertility encourages soft growth and flopping.
• Use a light gravel mulch rather than piling damp organic mulch against the crown.
• Support stems early in exposed gardens if they begin to lean.
• Keep a few seedlings as replacements, since individual plants can be short-lived.

Pruning. Cut spent flower stems back to the basal leaves after the main flush to encourage further flowering, or leave a few stems for seed. Remove dead stems and damaged foliage in late winter or early spring without cutting into the crown.

Early spring

Remove dead stems and damaged basal leaves; check that the crown has not remained wet over winter.

Spring

Plant young plants in a sunny, freely draining position and water them in.

Late spring

Install discreet supports where wind or richer soil makes the developing stems lean.

Summer

Cut back fading flower spikes for a possible second flush, leaving selected stems if seed is wanted.

Late summer

Collect ripe seed when the capsules turn brown and begin to open.

Autumn

Remove unwanted seedlings and clear wet leaf litter from around the crowns.

• Plant in loose groups through a sunny mixed border for slender vertical accents without a dense screen.
• Combine with lavender, catmint and low grasses in a gravel garden for contrasting flower shapes and foliage textures.
• Use among salvias and yarrow in an informal cottage border for a long summer flowering sequence.
• Place behind low-growing plants near a path so the purple flower centres can be seen closely.

Garden styles it suits: Cottage garden, Dry gravel garden, Mediterranean, Pollinator garden, New perennial (prairie) and English country.

Plant it with: Lavender, Catmint, Yarrow, Perennial salvia, Blue fescue and Hardy geranium.

Wildlife: Flowers provide pollen for bees. In the UK, the foliage can feed mullein moth caterpillars; leaving a little feeding damage supports their life cycle.

• Crown or root rot in wet ground: improve drainage or move plants to a raised, gritty bed; avoid wet mulch against the crown.
• Mullein moth caterpillars, especially in the UK, can strip leaves: tolerate some feeding for wildlife or hand-pick caterpillars if damage is severe.
• Powdery mildew can coat leaves in crowded conditions: improve air circulation and water the soil rather than the foliage.
• Flopping stems in shade or rich soil: provide full sun, avoid heavy feeding and add discreet supports where needed.

Not known to be toxic to people, cats, dogs or horses, but reliable species-specific safety information is limited. Do not treat the leaves, flowers, roots or seeds as edible, and discourage pets from chewing them.

• Dark mullein (Verbascum nigrum)

  Also has yellow flowers with purple-haired stamens, but usually has less-branched flower spikes and lower leaves with more distinctly heart-shaped bases.

• Great mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

  Has thick, densely woolly grey leaves and a stout, usually unbranched flower spike, unlike the greener leaves and airy branching stems of nettle-leaved mullein.

• Olympic mullein (Verbascum olympicum)

  Forms a much larger silver-grey rosette and a broad, heavily branched candelabra of yellow flowers.

The species name chaixii honours the French botanist Dominique Chaix, while nettle-leaved refers to the toothed leaves, which resemble nettle foliage but do not sting.

Propagation. Sow seed thinly on the surface of seed compost in spring or late summer, pressing it in without burying it deeply. Transplant seedlings while small; plants may also self-seed in open gravel or bare soil. Named forms may not come true from seed and are better propagated by root cuttings taken during dormancy.

Accepted botanical name

Verbascum chaixii

In the US and Canada

Introduced in the lower 48 states.

Native range

Austria, Bulgaria, Central European Rus, Czechoslovakia, East European Russia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan and Krym.

Measured

Average height 105 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.