Yaak (Turf-Type) Yarrow Seeds (Achillea millefolium var. ‘yaak’)

A soft-textured, native ‘turf-type’ yarrow selection suitable almost nationwide for flowering wild lawns.

Although very much a wild plant, and named for the rugged far northwestern wildness of Montana’s Yaak valley, this is an exemplary native wildflower for including in lawns.

Durable, mowable, able to withstand pets and foot traffic, this compact form of our native western yarrow spreads a bit by rhizomes, adopts a less upright growth habit, and can flower from low-growing stems.

Additionally, the plant’s resilient genetics allow it to persist happily in low fertility soils, easily shrug of droughts and dry seasons, frigid weather, and even soggy, saturated soils.

Extensive use of this yarrow variety has been demonstrated in ‘bee lawn’ projects in Minnesota and elsewhere with very good results. Additionally, this plant can be incorporated with other “wild lawn” species to support biodiversity, and reduce the need for mowing (sometimes to only once or twice a year). Some ideal companions include: sand fescue, western fescue, red fescue, Roemer’s fescue, Molate red fescue, blue grama grass, buffalo grass, poverty oat grass, Chamisso sedge, baby blue eyes, creeping thyme, hard fescue, prairie junegrass, various clovers, golden eyed grass, blue eyed grass, wild blue flax, and self heal.

Seeding Process: Yaak yarrow (and other wild lawn species) are best introduced to existing lawns by close scalping with a mower (cutting as low as possible), then core-aerating the lawn (aerators can be rented at many local hardware stores). Yaak yarrow and other seed can then be directly broadcast over the aerated lawn with seedlings establishing in the exposed soil.

Alternatively, seed can still be broadcast into an existing lawn, even without core aerating, but may result in slower establishment due to thatch build-up and less than ideal seed-to-soil contact.

Fall and spring seeding generally result in the best establishment. Due to the extremely small size of yarrow seed, we recommend increasing the volume of the seed with an inert bulking material (such as sand or cat litter) to facilitate spreading it over large areas.

Maintenance: Yaak yarrow and other wild lawn plants perform best without fertilizer, supplemental irrigation, and with high, infrequent mowing. We recommend trying to maintain such lawns at 4-inches or more in height, and limiting mowing to once in the spring, and once in the fall if possible. If more frequent or shorter mowing is required (e.g. to meet community standards) most wild lawn species will survive, but may be less abundant and produce fewer flowers.

Approximately 2500 seeds. (1 gram).