Hoary plantain

How to recognise it

Growth habit

Perennial rosette plant with a flat rosette pressed to the ground and upright flower stalks 15–40 cm tall.

Leaf

Broadly elliptical to oval, 4–15 cm long, with 5–9 curved veins, short-stalked, grey-green and softly hairy on both sides.

Flower

Cylindrical spikes 2–6 cm long on long, hairy, unfurrowed stalks. The tiny white flowers have long lilac to pink stamens and are faintly scented, from May to August.

Fruit/Seed

Small capsules that open with a lid, holding a few small brown seeds that turn sticky when wet.

Roots

A sturdy, deep taproot with a short rootstock.

Confusion with

Greater plantain has hairless, longer-stalked leaves and long, narrow, greenish spikes without showy stamens. Ribwort plantain has narrowly lance-shaped leaves, a furrowed flower stalk and short, blackish-brown spikes with white stamens. Hoary plantain: broad, hairy leaves lying flat, and pink, scented spikes.

Flowering: May–August · Pruning: August–September

Why grow it?

• One of the few plantains that is also insect-pollinated: honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies collect its pollen.
• The pink, faintly scented spikes are a graceful sight in a flower meadow, from May into August.
• A characteristic plant of chalk grassland and, in the garden, a fine addition to a chalky corner or a dry, sunny bank.
• Seed-eating birds such as finches eat the seeds, and the leaves feed the caterpillars of various moths.
• Very long-lasting: with its deep taproot and flat rosette it tolerates drought, mowing and some trampling.

Hoary plantain: where does it grow best?

• In the wild in chalk grassland, dry to moderately moist hay meadows, on dykes, verges, old pastures and chalky railway banks.
• Full sun.
• Chalky to neutral, poor to moderately fertile soil: loam, marl, chalky sand or clay. It tolerates drought but not soil that stays wet for long. On acid sand it dwindles.
• In the garden, in a flower meadow, a chalky bank, a dry slope or a short-mown flowering lawn.

Goes well with

• Salad burnet: Another plant of chalk grassland, with finely pinnate leaves and small round flower heads.
• Wild marjoram: Flowers later in summer and keeps the bees in the same spot.
• Cowslip: Flowers in April, before the plantain, on the same chalky soil.
• Knapweed: Purple knobs in summer, excellent for butterflies.
• Yellow rattle: A semi-parasite of grasses that holds the grass back and makes room for rosette plants.

Hoary plantain: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy plants or seed of native origin from a nursery that specialises in native plants.
2. Sow in September–October or March–April on open, loosened soil. Press the seed in and barely cover it.
3. Or sow in a tray and plant out the young rosettes in April–May or in September.
4. Plant 20–25 cm apart, with the heart of the rosette just at soil level.
5. Water in and keep the soil moist until it has established; thanks to its taproot it needs no more watering after that.
6. Never dig up plants from the wild, not even from a verge: buy them or sow your own.

Care

Watering

Only while it establishes. Established plants tolerate long dry spells.

Feeding

Not needed: fertiliser mainly helps the grasses, which then smother the flat rosettes.

Mowing

Mow a flower meadow with hoary plantain in late August or September and remove the cuttings. The flat rosettes survive mowing without any trouble.

Trampling

It tolerates some trampling and close mowing, but only flowers if you leave the spikes in summer.

Self-seeding

Let the spikes ripen before you mow; that way it seeds itself onto open patches.

Tip: Want hoary plantain in your lawn? On chalky soil, only mow a sunny patch once the spikes have finished: the flat rosettes survive mowing and give you a lawn flowering in pink.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: August–September.

When: In late August or September, after flowering and seed set.

How:

• Mow the meadow, rosettes and all; they lie flat and survive mowing.
• Remove the cuttings so that the soil stays poor.
• Leave a strip uncut until the following spring, as shelter for insects.
• In a border, cut off the spent spikes just above the rosette.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

Sow in autumn or early spring; it usually germinates well. Young plants often flower from their second year.

Separating rosettes

Older plants sometimes form several rosettes on a short rootstock. You can carefully separate these in spring and replant them.

Hoary plantain: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −30 °C.

• The plant overwinters as a small rosette or as a bud on the root, flat against the ground.
• Fully hardy, to about −30 °C.
• Its deep taproot protects it against hard frost and drought.

Diseases and pests

• Smothered by grass: On rich soil the rosettes disappear under the grass. Mow, remove the cuttings and do not feed.
• Acid soil: On acid sand it dwindles. Choose a chalky or loamy spot, or mix some marl or crushed limestone into the soil.
• Slugs: Young rosettes are sometimes eaten. Plant preferably in spring, in a dry, open spot.
• Powdery mildew: In dry summers a white powder sometimes appears on the leaves. Harmless: leave it.

Through the year

• March: The rosettes start growing. Plant or sow.
• April: Put out young plants.
• May: Flowering begins: pink spikes above the grass.
• June: Full flower. Bees and hoverflies on the spikes.
• July: Flowering and seed set.
• August: Last flowers. Mow in late August and remove the cuttings.
• September: Mow if not yet done. Sow.
• October: Sow or plant.
• December: Rest. Rosettes flat against the ground.

Did you know?

• Hoary plantain sits between wind and insect pollination: its scented spikes attract bees, but the wind also spreads its pollen.
• The Dutch name weegbree comes from the Middle Dutch wegebrede: a broad-leaved plant of the wayside.
• The genus name Plantago is often linked to the Latin planta, ‘sole of the foot’, after the leaves that lie flat on the ground.