Plantainleaf Pussytoes
Antennaria plantaginifolia
Woolly silver leaves and fuzzy cat-toe flowers for the driest, rockiest spots where grass fails. Permanent and maintenance-free once settled.
Typically 1 pint–1 gal · $9–$30 · final price at pickup
- Thu, Aug 138 AM – 4 PM
- Fri, Aug 148 AM – 4 PM
- Sat, Aug 158 AM – 2 PM
The native groundcover for dry rocky slopes where everything else fails. and a larval host for American Painted Lady butterflies.
Plantainleaf Pussytoes forms a low, silver-green mat of woolly leaves that hug the ground in rocky, sandy, and dry situations where almost nothing else will grow. In spring small white pom-pom flower heads that look exactly like cat toes rise on short stems, soft, fuzzy, and almost impossibly charming at close range. The foliage stays silver-gray through the seasons, giving the plant ornamental value even when not in bloom. This is a plant for the toughest spots: dry, gravelly, rocky slopes, sandy soil, full sun exposure. It's the native groundcover that replaces lawn in dry conditions where grass fails and where even drought-tolerant ornamentals struggle. The American Painted Lady butterfly uses it as a larval host plant, which makes it doubly valuable in a native pollinator planting. Once established in appropriate conditions it is essentially permanent and maintenance-free.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown plantainleaf pussytoes propagated on-site at Hill House from regional genetics. Includes a one-page care card. We make every effort to supply plants as listed; occasionally we substitute a similar species of equal value.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Dry
- Mature size
- 2–8 in · 12–18 in wide
- Bloom time
- Early spring
- Bloom color
- White
- USDA zones
- 3–8
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Native range
- Eastern and central United States, from Maine south to Georgia, west to Kansas
Care notes for plantainleaf pussytoes.
Plant in full sun in dry to very dry, well-drained, lean soil. This plant absolutely requires excellent drainage. wet or heavy soil is fatal. Do not over-water or fertilize. Spreads slowly by stolons into a mat. No maintenance needed in appropriate conditions. This is a plant you plant and forget.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside plantainleaf pussytoes.
Or skip the guesswork.
Curated packages bundle complementary species for an instant habitat. One reservation, one pickup day, a printed layout map.
Short on Space Package
For gardeners who have an abundance of passion but are short on space, this package features tidy, upright, clump-forming natives that behave and function well in small spaces.
Shade Bed Package
Ferns, sedges, and woodland natives that thrive under existing trees.
Birder’s Paradise Package
For the avid bird watchers and budding ornithologists in our community, the Birder’s Paradise Package consists of species that Hill House Nursery staff and longtime native plant advocates such as Doug Tallamy consider ‘premier bird garden plants’.