Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimony
Common names: Common agrimony, Church steeples
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 30 cm, rows 40 cm
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Sowing
- Mar, Apr, Sep, Oct
- Harvest
- Jun–Aug
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −25 °C
- Water need
- Low
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Photo: Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
Description
Agrimonia eupatoria is a native meadow herb with slender, yellow-flowering panicles. The plant’s foliage is traditionally used as a mild, herbal house tea. Dried leaves and flowers produce a pleasantly spicy infusion. In a natural garden it is low‑maintenance and insect‑friendly.
Care instructions
Sow in spring or autumn in a sunny to partially shaded spot with lime‑rich, well‑draining soil. It is low‑maintenance and requires little care or watering. Harvest the flowering herb from June to August at full bloom and dry it in a well‑ventilated shade. In late autumn, cut back the withering stems.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–Apr, Sep–Oct
HarvestJun–Aug
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 5 °C, ideally 12 °C
- Days to sprout
- 21 to 90 days
- Light
- Needs light to sprout
- Sowing depth
- Press in, don't cover
- How to start
- Sow straight into the bed
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, well-drained, lime-loving, lean, humus-rich
Agrimony loves well-drained, loamy and calcareous soils, in the lowlands of Germany, Austria and Switzerland that means typical loess loam or limestone-rubble soils. It avoids acidic, compacted or permanently wet soils; lean to normally nutrient-supplied and rather dry is ideal. Let the soil dry out between waterings.
Feeding
Light feeder
Months
Mar–Apr
Agrimony needs hardly any fertiliser; it is a herb of lean sites. If at all, spread a thin layer of mature compost shallowly around the plant in early spring before it shoots. On normal garden soil with an occasional dose of compost, no separate feeding is needed at all; too many nutrients come at the expense of flowering.
Overwintering
Agrimony is a completely hardy perennial and needs no winter protection. Leave the dead shoots standing over winter as insect shelter and cut them back close to the ground only in early spring shortly before new growth.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
- Division
Agrimony is most reliably propagated by sowing. Collect the hooked little fruits from July/August, as soon as they come away easily from the spike, and sow them directly in autumn where they are to grow. As cold-stratification seeds, they need a natural cold period to germinate the following spring. After sowing, press the seeds down only lightly and cover them with no more than a thin layer of soil; buried deeply they germinate worse. If you want to sow in spring, first stratify the seeds for about 4 to 6 weeks cold and moist in the fridge. From experience the germination rate is rather modest, so give the seeds time and sow somewhat more generously. Established plants form a strong, deep root system; division therefore works best in early spring before it shoots, or alternatively in early autumn. Dig up the root ball generously, divide it with a spade and plant the divisions immediately in their new spot: full sun to partial shade, well-drained and preferably calcareous soil. Young seedlings that settle around the mother plant by self-seeding you can transplant early in spring, as long as the roots do not sit too deep yet.
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
For your garden
Grow Agrimony yourself
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