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 Freshen
Up Your Late Season Gardens and Containers with Strawflowers
By Melinda Myers
[August 16, 2025]
As summer is winding down and fall approaches, your
thoughts may turn to mums, asters, and pansies. Consider changing
things up this year by adding deer-resistant strawflowers to your
late summer and fall containers and gardens.
Grow strawflowers (Xerochrysum bracteatum formerly Bracteantha) in
full to part sun and moist well-drained soil. They are heat and cold
tolerant, grown as annuals in most areas, and short-lived perennials
in zones 8 to 10. You’ll enjoy continuous blooming and visiting
pollinators from spring through summer and into fall until frost.
Plant some now to replace fading summer annuals, freshen up your
late season garden or create fall containers. The range of flower
colors makes them easy to include in your late season displays.
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Plant strawflowers in the garden or a container with
drainage holes and fill with a quality potting mix. Select a pot, at
least 12” in diameter to avoid the plant becoming rootbound and
drying out too quickly. Although the flowers look dry, the plants
prefer moist well-drained soil. Check containers daily and water
thoroughly as needed. Those growing in the garden should be watered
thoroughly when the top few inches of soil are crumbly and moist.
Strawflowers unique blossoms look and feel dry to the touch, making
them extra fun for kids to grow. This straw-like texture of the
flowers inspired the common name. You may also hear them referred to
as everlasting flowers since they don’t wilt readily when picked and
retain their shape and color for years once dried.
Granvias (suntoryflowers.com) are larger, vigorous plants with much
bigger blooms than other strawflowers, making them excellent
thrillers in containers and showy in the garden. You can find these
supersized strawflowers in gold, pink, white, Crimson Sun, Harvest
Orange, Peachy Keen and Orange Flame.
Set a pot of colorful strawflowers among your pumpkins, ornamental
squash and other fall décor. Combine them in containers and garden
beds with other fall favorites like ornamental kale and cabbage,
grasses, ornamental peppers, pansies, calibrachoas, and more.
Grow plenty so you’ll have enough to enjoy as cut
flowers and even more to dry for crafting wreaths, garland, flower
spheres, and adding to dried arrangements. Harvest strawflowers when
two to three layers of their petal-like bracts have unfolded but the
center is still tightly closed. The flowers will continue to open as
they dry so waiting too long results in a more open bloom. Harvest
regularly to encourage even more flowers.
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Recut the stems at an angle and place the
strawflowers in fresh water and condition them in a cool, dark place
for a few hours or overnight when using in fresh arrangements.
Hang the stems in bundles upside down in a warm, dry place when
preserving them dried. You may opt to remove the stem and replace it
with florist wire if you plan on using the dried strawflowers in a
wreath or an arrangement where a stem is needed. As the flower
dries, it secures the wire in place. Remove the flowers from the
stems once dried if you plan on using just the flowers in crafting
projects.
Discover the beauty and many uses of strawflowers this fall. Then
next season, start early and grow even more to enjoy all season
long.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books,
including the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small
Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything”
instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s
Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and
contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned
by Summit for her expertise to write this article. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.
[Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com]
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