About five years ago, I ordered a mix of Verbascum seed from Chilterns in England. Many of them germinated and I planted them out around the orchard garden. Several of the cultivars in the mix were impressively showy, with tall multi-pronged spikes of pleasant soft yellow flowers.

Mulleins have been in my life since I was pretty young–the invasive V. thapsus grows in any bare spot in a field or dirt road, including up at our cabin near Tonasket–it is everywhere there along the roads. Once in a while I will see a moth mullein, V. blattaria, which is also naturalized here. It is a more refined plant with prettier flowers. Many years ago I grew a hybrid mix of V. phoeniceum. The flowers of this strain come in some fantastic colors, while the leaves are not fuzzy or particularly handsome. I got a few of them to grow, but they died out in my borders after the first year–they don’t seem to be perennial for me.

Volunteer mullein seedlings still appear around the garden. My future plans for them are to transplant them to the best places to show off their best attributes, which can be their big, fuzzy leaves, or their candlabras of bright yellow blooms.