Plantainleaf Pussytoes

Antennaria plantaginifolia

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.