Verbascum chaixii Album Seeds - White nettle-leaved mullein

Verbascum chaixii 'Album' is a particularly decorative form of nettle-leaved mullein with off-white flowers. It is a spontaneous species in the south-east of France. It is a reliable perennial that is both charming and has a strong presence when it launches its pretty candle-like spikes covered with off-white flowers punctuated by a small reddish-purple eyes towards the sky. Even though it can sometimes be more of a biennial plant, it easily self-seeds in sunny, somewhat neglected areas with light or even rocky soils. It grows quick and straight, bringing airiness and vertical accents to rustic or romantic flowerbeds.

Nettle-leaved mullein belongs to the family Scrophulariaceae. It is a species native to Central and Southern Europe and is found as far as Armenia and the Caucasus. In France, it is spontaneous in the dry, arid areas of the limestone mountains of the East and South, stretching from the south of the Alps to the Cévennes and the Pyrenees. 'Album' differs only in the colour of its flowers, whose corolla is creamy-white and not yellow like that of the type species.

In a fertile soil, this plant will reach about 1 m when in flower but if growing conditions are unfavourable, such as in poor, dry soil, it will be much smaller. Its growth is fast, attaining its adult size in just a couple of weeks. It develops a rosette of hairy basal leaves from which long, branched, leafy flower stalks emerge. Flowering takes place from June to August, in the form of pyramidal panicles made up of 2 cm, cup-shaped, creamy white flowers arranged around a bright purple-red centre. They are tightly packed together, blooming in packs along the spike which is covered with a light-coloured down. The large basal leaves are oval to elliptical, wavy, dark green and covered with greyish down. The leaves on the stems are much smaller. This mullein is a melliferous plant that is very popular with bees. Even though theoretically, it is a perennial, it tends to have more of a biennial life cycle when planted in rich, moist soil but easily self-seeds in light soil.

Verbascum chaixii 'Album' is a plant for open, dry terrain and is a boon for sunny slopes and stony soils. However, the plant will be much more decorative if planted in a healthy garden soil and watered from time to time in very dry weather. Natural looking scenes in the somewhat wilder areas of the garden will be transformed by botanical or hybrid mullein. Combine them with hollyhocks which resemble them, dittany, purple toadflax, wild chicory, perennial flax or the wonderful bronze fennel. Just like foxgloves, they are good companions for roses. It is best to surround them with perennials or shrubs such as catnips, giant hyssops or speedwells that fill out the garden when they are not in bloom.