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, Sep 248 AM – 4 PM
- Fri, Sep 258 AM – 4 PM
- Sat, Sep 268 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.
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