Sweet Everlasting
Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium
Silver-gray woolly foliage with a maple-syrup scent and papery white blooms that dry beautifully. Larval host for American Lady butterflies.
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 larval host for American Lady butterfly, with maple-scented foliage and everlasting dried flowers.
Sweet everlasting earns its name in two ways: the papery white flower heads persist long after they dry, and the whole plant carries a warm, maple-syrup scent when crushed. The leaves are covered in white woolly hairs that give a silver-gray cast to the foliage, making it attractive even before the compact clusters of papery blooms appear in late summer and fall. This is a short-lived perennial that self-sows to persist in a planting. It thrives in the dry, sandy, or disturbed soils where colonizing is important. American Lady butterflies use it as a larval host plant, making it an under-celebrated ecological powerhouse. The dried stems cut and hold beautifully in arrangements.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown sweet everlasting 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
- 1–2.5 ft · 6–12 in wide
- Bloom time
- August–October
- USDA zones
- 3–9
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Native range
- Eastern and central North America from Quebec south to Florida and west to the Great Plains
Care notes for sweet everlasting.
Full sun in dry, sandy, or lean soil. Tolerates poor, disturbed ground better than most native plants. Allow seed heads to ripen for self-sowing. the plant perpetuates naturally without any intervention. No supplemental water needed once established.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside sweet everlasting.
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’.