Where To Plant And To Grow Dusty Miller (Silver Ragwort)

Dusty miller, also known as silver ragwort (Jacobaea maritima) and formerly referred to as Senecio cineraria, comes from the Mediterranean region, northern Africa, and western Asia. How to grow and care for your dusty miller in a colder area may depend on how cold your winters are. They love heat and sun. Here on the Pacific Northwest coast, the dusty miller does very well in summer and can survive the winter with a few plant care tips. Some gardeners have been successful growing dusty miller in colder regions like zones 5 and 6 – but gardeners may attribute this to planting it in a protected location during winter. They do better in zones 8 through to 11 as perennials.

The dusty miller is a lovely compact and busy plant appreciated for its attractive silver foliage. The leaves are fuzzy, giving it a silver white dusty appearance, and with its deeply cut form adds textural interest to a summer garden or autumn (fall) display. Excellent as a small accent plant in a border or as edging, and ideal grouped in container gardening. Blooms little cream or yellow flower clusters tend to be insignificant for the most part, and some remove them to draw more attention to the ornamental foliage. Generally short-lived, at least these dusty miller plants are drought tolerant, rabbit and deer resistant, love summer heat, and are low maintenance.