PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Verbascum (Mullein)
Verbascum 'Southern Charm'
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
Tall, elegant spires packed with soft peach, lilac and cream flowers with purple eyes, from June to August. Loves sun and poor, dry soil.
When to plant and care for it
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Flowers
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Verbascum (Mullein): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well until established, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Poor, well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 45 cm
- Height
- 90 cm
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- No feeding needed
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 5–9
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 45 cm apart, and firm in.
- 0–1 days after “Plant”
Water In Well
Give a full can of water, then keep moist for the first few weeks while roots establish.
- 7–14 days after “Water In Well”
Mulch Around the Base
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plant, keeping it off the stems.
Every year
- JuneIn Flower
Spires in flower — bees climb all over them.
- AugustTrim After Flowering
Cut the main spike off after flowering to encourage side spikes and a longer life.
