Verbascum thapsus cream form

Description

Verbascum thapsus Cream Form

Verbascum thapsus cream form is a striking variant of the native great mullein, distinguished from the typical yellow-flowered species by its soft, pale creamy-yellow blooms. A stately biennial, it forms a low rosette of large, felted, silvery-grey leaves in its first year, followed in the second by a tall, upright flowering spike reaching 1.5-2m or more in height, with a spread of around 30-50cm.

From midsummer into early autumn, the woolly stem bears a long succession of soft cream, saucer-shaped flowers, offering a gentler, more subtle alternative to the species for cottage gardens, gravel schemes and wildflower borders.

Cultivation is easy: grow in full sun in poor to moderately fertile, well-drained, preferably alkaline soil. It is fully hardy and thrives on dry, chalky or sandy ground, disliking winter wet. It self-seeds freely once established, and is a valuable nectar source for pollinators and the mullein moth.