Are they getting full sun all day? That wouldn't be the reason for the root rot, but maybe they get sickly from not having enough sun... Mine are also from seed, but are in sun from 8 to evening... They thrive in hot weather...

Carrie

They get sun from about 10am until 1pm. Then again from about 3pm til 6 or later. I've tried them in full sun and less. They always rot. Maybe my clay is just too much for them?

When I had clay and problems like this, I would always dig the planting hole 3" deeper than necessary and line the hole with minimum 3" of rough pea gravel. Then I would plant right on top of the pea gravel. It would keep water away from the roots and everything did just fine.

We have clay soil and the wild white yarrow on our land as well as the red and yellow yarrow in my garden flourish. Yarrow is a dry herb so if the roots are rotting it's probably getting too much water. Having said that my red yarrow is right under the birdbath so gets watered daily when I clean and refil the bb.

Maybe it needs a particular pH. I think our soil is alkaline altho I've never had a soil test. Or perhaps it likes our cold winter.

I have the little white yarrow, been here for years. Grows in mostly shade, acid soil, at the east end of some boxwoods partly shaded by a huge Eastern red cedar, corraled by mowing, never fertilized.

Maybe it is because I don't care and you do.

Nell

Nell, you could be right. I have the hardest time growing the things I really want. Except tomatoes. I do very well with those.

Yay token! Another person who is not enamored with Yarrow. I am not very fond of it either. I do not care for plants that are so fussy! Many years ago I tried some 'Moonshine' yarrow. I put it in a dry bed with perfect drainage. It was pretty for the first year, but years after that it kept getting smaller until it was no bigger than a tuna can. I have also tried the 'millfoil' Yarrows. Those things spread waaaaay to much, even the wild white one. I loved the color of a unknown pink cultivar, but it was not worth having to keep it in check. I planted it out in the alley garden, where it can spread however much it pleases.

I noticed a few weeks ago how much my Chaerophyllum hirsutum 'Roseum' (Pink Cow Parsley) looks like that pink yarrow. I don't know how well it would do in your zone, but it would be a good replacement.
CMK

About the only yarrow I have been able to sustain is the wild white. That grows anywhere I put it, and anywhere it wants!!! lol. Not invasive, just pervasive!!!

Nancy.

I have white yarrow and the 'Paprika', growing in shade, in black gumbo, never gets watered, and grows like crazy. We have soil that is alkaline.

Who knows what this plant really wants?

I think it probably is a case of killing it with kindness.

Janie

Interesting info on yarrow... I've never tried them in the shade, but then again I WANT them in the shade...., so maybe I'd better quit while I am ahead and keep mine in the sun

:0)

Carrie

I don't know for sure if I have 'Moonshine' or 'Coronado Gold', but I planted it last year and thought it was crap as it turned black quickly and I had to cut it all down. It came straight out of a greenhouse, and the plants were too big for the 4" pots. I think it is probably the CG, but I need to hunt down the lost labels!

This year, it's making me love it so far.

Huge masses of gold flowers for over a month now with no fading. I put it at the top edges of the butterfly garden to transition to the meadow, mixed in with nepeta and stick verbena.

I just added two tiny pots of the 'paprika' to try out. I'd like to see that color do well in the butterfly garden.

Cameron

Hmmm. I had some of the yellow ones (I forget if it was Moonshine or CG) at the old house in full sun, and they were very happy there - alkaline clay soil. At the new house, I put some white yarrow in part-shade, and it didn't survive. I got a freebie red one last year in my bonus 3-pak, and put it in full sun, and it is happy, and getting huge right now. So, maybe it just needs more sun?

I only grow one: 'Coronation Gold' and it's one of my favorite perennials because it blooms over such a long time. It has a brief ugly period in late July-August when some of the silvery foliage melts in the heat and humidity, but come cooler temps, it sends out new silvery growth. I've found it to be adaptable to different soil types also and benefits from dividing every 4-5 years. The only issue I have with mine this year is floppiness (due to all the rain).

My guess would be humidity. Yarrow thrives here in CA, but we have dry heat. NC is very humid. My Yarrow is in a clay-like soil, amended with some compost. It gets about 8 hours of sun. I have it on drip for something like 10 minutes every other day. It could probably go with less water easily. Mine is doing great, even though I dug it up and it spent several weeks on the front porch while I decided where I wanted to move it.

The one I planted last year was Coronation Gold. It didn't come back this year. Granted, it's in the dead zone of my perennial bed where nothing but Rose of Sharon seems to do well. And oak seedlings, but that's a different thread.

I planted Laura's Red and an orange/yellow combination in the bed next to the basement door. It's a dry bed, usually. It's hot in the summer and vinca did a great job there last year.

I won't pull it out, but I'll be making plans to replace it next spring when I find it's composted over the winter.

This is mine ... do you think it is Coronation Gold?

{{gwi:702475}}

Looks like Moonshine to me. CG is a lot paler, at least what I've seen in nurseries.

A couple years ago I really got mad at my tall bearded iris

I gave them one more chance and dug a narrow bed alongside
the gravel parking lot that goes with our basement apartment. Sort of like putting them in lower Slobovia. Well, they liked it! Now I have quite a lean dry garden over there. Iris, salvia, salvia, salvia and yarrow, yarrow, yarrow. Moonshine which is great except immediately after being divided. Achillea millefolia Anthea--tall, ivory. A tall peach one. Achillea cerise
queen grows on front edge of the sunniest part of my long
border and a long wavy row of 3+ ft Gold Plate whose DNA
comes from my mothers pre-1970 garden lives on the steep
wild hill with ornamental grasses, black-eyed susans and
other crazies.

Deadheading helps them look neater in the late season and
some rebloom.

Chris

Cerise yarrow is far more forgiving. It's later blooming, and hot pink. The yellows have never done well for me here -not with any kind of drainage because of humidity. They melt. White does OK, but that's not the one I want, lol.
I also have several reds/coppers/peaches that do fine. They just bloom for a few weeks here though, as soon as humidity hits they stop. They like heat, but detest humidity except for the cerise!

Cameron,

I think that is definitely 'Coronation Gold'. I describe the color as chrome yellow (if you've ever painted any paintings, you know what I mean). The silver foliage is also a dead giveaway.

My experience has been that Coronation Gold is fairly tolerant of clay. I planted it eight years ago, never divided it and it's still going strong.

I have had a lot less luck with the Galaxy hybrids which peter out after a year or two.

Reseeding is not an issue here.

Yarrow. The bane of my existence.
Had it in my old garden and it crept into the lawn never to leave. Dug it all up and gave it to my neighbor who admired it. It was back within hours. :-/

I have had the old yarrow, Gold Plate for maybe 20 years. I have tried to get rid of it in the garden to no avail. I never do anything to it. One grows in red clay soil, one in rich garden soil. The rich soil one invariably flops because I forget to pinch it back., the other no. We have extremely humid weather and tons of rain....never had rot.

I raised Summer Pastels from seed a couple of times...they barely made it through the season. I bought Paprika, ditto.

I want to try the fragrant one, Moonwalker, next year.

Mine has green leaves, not silvery.

They dry beautifully!