Tanacetum haradjanii Little Frosty

Tanacetum haradjanii Little Frosty is a compact selection of Silver Tansy with beautifully carved foliage that uniquely catches the light. It is a sprawling undershrub, adorned with leaves like small frosty feathers. This foliage becomes almost white in summer and holds over winter if its not too harsh. This small plant is very resistant to dry cold and summer drought but hates wet and poorly drained soils. Once well established, it forms pretty ground cover cushions that limit the growth of weeds. Its unique beauty works well in rock gardens, on dry slopes, above walls, in gravel beds...

Tanacetum haradjanii Little Frosty, also known as Tanacetum densum subsp. amanii, belongs to the asteraceae family. The species is native to the arid mountains of Anatolia and more broadly to Asia Minor (Turkey, Armenia, Syria...). It is a drought-tolerant, very hardy high-altitude plant found in pockets of soil between rocks or in scree. This tansy has allelopathic properties, meaning it blocks the germination and growth of other plants that could compete with it.

Tanacetum haradjanii Little Frosty is a slow-growing rhizomatous plant that forms a wide, low and dense cushion, 20 cm (8in) tall and 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20in) wide. Its woody and prostrate stems are branching, creeping and then upright, capable of rooting upon contact with the ground. The tips of the branches have numerous 4 to 5 cm (2in) long leaves, divided into very fine segments, covered with a silvery-grey down. The hotter and drier it gets, the whiter the leaves become. From the foliage sparse floral stems, 20-25 cm (8-10in) tall emerge bearing small clusters or corymbs of yellow flower heads at their tips in June-July. The unattractive flowers can be cut off.

In the sun, the Little Frosty forms a superb silvery carpet when planted in small groups in a rock garden, on a slope or as a border in a raised bed. Planted in well-drained soil, dry in summer, it will outcompete undesirable weeds that are much less adapted to these spartan conditions. It is an essential plant in dry, Mediterranean garden and alpine gardens. Combine it with rockroses, low cistus, lavenders, Euphorbia characias or myrsinites, sedum spurium, Centaurea pulcherrima, pink-flowered phlomis...