Verbascum: 6 Successful Companion Planting Ideas
To create colourful and harmonious flower beds!
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Verbascum, also known as Mullein or Great Mullein, is a biennial or perennial plant that produces beautiful upright spikes of generally yellow flowers in summer. It also forms large, downy, pubescent leaves, sometimes with a lovely silvery hue. Horticulturists have created numerous varieties, expanding the range of their flowering colours: there are now Verbascums in shades of pink, orange, purple, and mauve… The height of mullein plants is also quite variable: there are dwarf varieties, while the tallest can reach up to 2 m. This makes them impressive plants that add verticality and structure to borders. They are low-maintenance and easy to grow. They thrive in full sun, in well-drained, rather dry and poor soil. They can be integrated into Mediterranean gardens, rockeries, as well as romantic gardens and colourful mixed borders. Discover our most beautiful ideas and inspirations for pairing them, according to your garden style and desires!
And to learn everything about their cultivation, feel free to consult our complete guide “Verbascum, Mullein: to plant, to grow, and to maintain”
In a dry garden
As Verbascum thrives in well-drained, rather dry and poor soils, it will be perfect for integrating into a mineral-dominant garden, alongside other undemanding plants that require little water. For example, plant it alongside yarrow, eryngiums, echinops, and Euphorbia myrsinites. Include red valerian, Centranthus ruber, a foolproof perennial that grows almost anywhere! You can also create a rock garden, which will be perfect for showcasing these plants while optimising drainage. Choose a sunny spot, on a slope or by creating a mound to elevate the rock garden. Add draining materials (coarse sand, gravel…) that you will mix with the soil, and place some large stones to retain the soil. All that’s left is to create planting pockets between the stones. You can place sedums, houseleeks, helianthemums… Don’t hesitate to include some clumps of grasses like Stipa tenuifolia.
→ Discover our selection of plants for dry gardens
Scene with Verbascum ‘Polarsommer’, Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, and Euphorbia myrsinites (photo: Nathalie Pasquel – MAP), Centranthus ruber, Achillea ‘Terracotta’, and Eryngium oliverianum (photo: Clive Nichols – MAP), Echinops ritro, Verbascum thapsus
In a naturalistic garden
Verbascum will also integrate very well into a naturalistic garden, with a rustic and wild style! Choose a variety with delicate flowering, such as Verbascum phoeniceum or Verbascum ‘Helen Johnson’, and pair it with light and delicate blooms such as those of Gaura lindheimeri, Scabiosa columbaria ‘Pink Mist’, as well as wildflowers, like cornflowers and poppies… This will give your garden a true wild meadow feel! Also add grasses, such as Chinese fountain grass or Miscanthus, which are essential in this style of garden! Discover Calamagrostis brachytricha, charmingly nicknamed Diamond Grass, for its spikes that catch the sun’s rays. Feel free to play with contrasts in shape by surrounding these natural beds with trimmed hedges or areas where the lawn is perfectly mown, creating the visual effect of a well-managed and contained disorder.
→ Discover our inspiration page “Naturalistic Garden”
Scabiosa columbaria ‘Pink Mist’, Verbascum phoeniceum, Gaura lindheimeri ‘Snowbird’, Achillea ‘Terracotta’ and Verbascum ‘Helen Johnson’, Pennisetum orientale ‘Tall Tails’, Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)
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In a romantic garden
Pink or white flowering Verbascums will easily fit into a romantic garden. For example, choose Verbascum chaixii ‘Album’, Verbascum ‘Rosie’, or the variety ‘Southern Charm’. Pair it with the romantic flowering of a rose, such as ‘Darcey Bussel’, with its deep crimson, almost purple, double flowers, or with the rose ‘Astronomia’, featuring lighter, simple pale pink flowers enhanced by a lovely bouquet of orange stamens. Alongside them, enjoy the stunning white flowering of clematis ‘White Pearl’, which you can train to climb on an arbour or pergola. Also consider the delicate and pleasantly scented flowers of the carnation Dianthus plumarius ‘Scent First Tickled Pink’. The airy flowering of gypsophila will bring a touch of lightness to the border. You can also rely on the unique flowering of cleomes, which are also very airy and delicate.
→ Discover our inspiration page “Romantic Atmosphere”
Verbascum ‘Rosie’, Centranthus ruber and achilleas, David Austin rose ‘Darcey Bussel’, Verbascum ‘Southern Charm’, Dianthus plumarius ‘Scent First Tickled Pink’ and Lathyrus latifolius ‘White Pearl’
In a cottage garden
Verbascum will also find its place in a cottage garden. This style of garden, typically English, is ideal for showcasing old stone, half-timbered, or thatched country houses. The flowerbeds combine a jumble of ornamental perennial plants, annuals, vegetables, and herbs. For flowering, choose soft, pastel shades: light blue, pink, white, orange, salmon… For example, pair Verbascum ‘Southern Charm’ with Delphinium ‘Pacific Summer Skies’, Campanula lactiflora ‘Alba’, foxgloves, and hardy geraniums. Add opulent foliage, such as that of ferns, hostas, and Cynara cardunculus. You can mix in heirloom vegetables (parsnips, orach, swede, Jerusalem artichokes…), herbs, and soft fruits (raspberries, currants…). Don’t hesitate to install vintage decorative elements: for example, a wrought iron garden set, an old barrel, statues, or lanterns. Prefer natural materials: stone, wood, wrought iron, slate…
→ Discover our inspiration page “Cottage Garden”
Scene with Stachys ‘Big Ears’, Verbascum ‘Petra’, Salvia ‘Vanity Fair’, and Cynara cardunculus, Verbascum ‘Jackie’, Campanula lactiflora ‘Alba’, Delphinium ‘Pacific Summer Skies’, and Cynara cardunculus
In a bohemian garden
Create a bohemian garden with Verbascum, featuring a style that is both wild, bucolic, and warm, in vibrant and festive hues. This atmosphere will be perfect around a garden lounge in a small space, creating a cocoon effect. For the flowering, choose warm and vibrant colours: yellow, orange, pink, red… and mix the shapes: bristly spherical flowers with Dahlia ‘Karma Sangria’, generous, flat or domed heads with heleniums and echinaceas, long vertical inflorescences with verbascums and Eremurus, fluffy flowers with monardas, flat umbels with achilleas, feathery panicles with Stipa tenuifolia… Add decorative elements (cushions, lanterns, garlands…) and furniture in warm tones. You will create a particularly welcoming and pleasant space to live in!
→ Discover our advice sheet “Creating a Bohemian Garden”
Scene with Heleniums, Achilleas, and Stipa (photo: Liz Eddison – Flora Press – Biosphoto), Verbascum ‘Costowld Queen’, Dahlia ‘Karma Sangria’, Monarda ‘Jacob Cline’, and Echinacea purpurea ‘Summer Breeze’ (photo: Valleybrook Gardens)
In a white-silver garden
Enjoy white-flowered Verbascums to create a silver-white garden, both chic, elegant, and minimalist! White gardens are particularly soothing, providing a sense of space and freedom, away from the bustle created by bright colours. They seem timeless, eternal. Choose, for example, Verbascum phoeniceum ‘Flush of White’ or Verbascum ‘White Domino’. Pair it with the umbels of yarrow, the floral spikes of woodland sage ‘Schneehugel’, and the starry flowers of the carnation Dianthus deltoides ‘Albiflorus’. The airy flowering of gypsophila paniculata will complement it beautifully! Particularly dreamlike, it evokes a cloud of flowers or a delicate mist. Also incorporate silver foliage: Artemisia stelleriana ‘Silver Brocade’, Salvia argentea, and Stachys byzantina. You will achieve a particularly bright bed, ideal for illuminating a dark corner of the garden.
→ Discover our inspiration page “Silver White Garden”
Achillea millefolium, Verbascum phoeniceum ‘Flush of White’, Gypsophila paniculata, Salvia nemorosa ‘Schneehugel’, Artemisia stelleriana ‘Silver Brocade’, and Dianthus deltoides ‘Albiflorus’
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