Helichrysum orientale (Yellow Immortelle)

Flat silver-green puberulent leaves. What a great word – touch the leaves and you’ll see what we mean. Perennial from North Africa, Crete, Turkey and Greece. The fuzzy and fondlable leaves are bright silver and the tight mounds of foliage grow about 30cms or so into rounded cushions and humps. A generous nimbus of bright yellow flowers will hover over the plant in summer, each of the blooms a little velvety button surrounded by neat papery bracts that crackle to the touch.

Described in one of our tatty reference tomes as ‘worth growing in a crevice’ which seems reductive but I suppose that depends on how highly you value your crevices and whether or not you want them adorned. It definitely is pretty, and definitely is a plant for narrow spots with really good drainage

Being found variously in Greece, Crete, Turkey and a peppering of adjacent islands you can imagine it would be very drought tolerant and it is so any light sandy soil in full sun will make a fine plonking place for it. Over here in less Delphic zones it can fall prey to winter wet and can be damaged by rain and heavy dews so it’s a great one for Mediterranean schemes (obviously) or a sunny courtyard. Looks magnificent rocketing out of a rocky scree or wending their way hither and thither around a gravel garden in fuzzy herds all hump-ily and bump-ily.

The other Helichrysum we do, ‘italicum’ does flowers but we prefer it not to as it leaves the plant bedraggled and diminished somewhat. However, this one, the lovely ‘Orientale’, can be left to bloom heartily and it will do so with little encouragement and does not seem to exhaust the plant nearly as much as ‘Italicum’. Just tidy up the finished stems when it’s all over to keep things neat. The dried flowers are a floristry stalwart and remain looking as alive as they once were (hence ‘Immortelle’) and incidentally, when dyed black have historically been used to make some very sombre mourning garlands.

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.

As with all woody plants, plant high, exposing as much of the taper at the base of the trunk as possible. Allowing soil to accumulate round the base of a tree can be fatal. Keep very well watered when first planted.