Achillea millefolium Paprika

The Achillea millefolium 'Paprika' is a vigorous perennial plant with corymb flowering, evolving from red to yellow heart to red-orange. Its light, feathery foliage, matte green, is abundant, and it is deciduous or semi-evergreen. This wild plant will climb the most difficult slopes and colonize slightly wild areas. Exuberant and undemanding, this garden regularly gives an old-fashioned charm to unpretentious borders. Easy to grow in all regions.

In this stoloniferous perennial, the foliage is evergreen or semi-evergreen, and presents from spring, an upright clump habit. It belongs to the Asteraceae family. This is one of the many cultivars of Achillea millefolium native to Europe and Asia Minor. The plant will reach 60 cm (24in) in flower height, 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6in) for the foliage. It spreads over 50 cm (20in) and more.

The inflorescence is a flat-topped corymb. The remarkably long flowering extends from June to October. The flowers are actually heads, with a yellow central disc and a crown of red ligulate florets that then take on a softer, red-orange hue, which its variety name refers to. The stem is channelled and villous. The foliage is aromatic and finely divided into strips, feathery and dark matte green in colour.

Plant Achillea millefolium in any soil, even limestone, dry or moist but well-drained. It even adapts to clay soils, if they are healthy and well-amended. It will grow in partial shade but prefers full sun. It is preferable to cut back all vegetation at the end of the season to promote the emergence of new shoots in spring.

Achillea millefolium 'Paprika' will integrate well in a rockery, at the top of a wall, as a border or on a slope where it will contribute to fixing and protecting against erosion. This plant with stolons can be used as a ground cover over large areas. It allows you to do away with the necessary mowing for a lawn by replacing it on lightly trodden areas. It tolerates root competition from trees, making it also a good ground cover on the edge of woodlands.

The plant has recognized medicinal properties: it is haemostatic, the leaves are healing and the flowers have a stimulating, tonic and high concentration, febrifuge action.

This plant is known by many names, depending on the regions: turkey herb, carpenter's herb, St. John's herb, St. Joseph's herb, military herb, herb for cuts, nosebleed, Venus's eyebrow.