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Key characteristics

Family: Scrophulariaceae
Height: 24 to 30 inches
Width: 12 to 18 inches
Flower color: Soft antique rose to dusty pink saucer shaped flowers with contrasting purple stamens
Foliage color: Medium green softly hairy oval to lance shaped leaves forming a low basal rosette
Bloom time: Late spring to early summer
Light: Full sun to light partial shade
Water: Average
Maintenance: Low; deadhead spent flower spikes to prolong bloom and remove seed heads if self seeding is not desired
Growing zone: USDA zones 4 to 8
Wildlife: Bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects

Perennials

Verbascum phoeniceum 'Antique Rose'

Antique Rose Mullein

Verbascum phoeniceum 'Antique Rose' produces airy spikes of rounded flowers in late spring and early summer, the petals opening in warm rose, mauve, and soft salmon tones around a tuft of deep violet-purple stamens. A basal rosette of softly textured, oval green leaves forms a neat mound at the base, supporting slender stems that carry the loose clusters of blooms.

This cultivated selection traces its heritage to Verbascum phoeniceum native to central and southern Europe and western Asia.

Light

Full sun to light partial shade

Water

Average

Bloom time

Late spring to early summer

Find this plant

Works well in

Borders
Cottage Gardens
Pollinator Gardens

Companion plants

Ferns · Astilbes · Foxgloves · Bergenias · Sedums · Columbines

Design tip

Summer flowers carry the middle of the season, so place it where the bed needs color once spring bulbs fade. Because it is easy about light, use it to carry a planting from a sunny end of the bed into the shadier side.

Printable plant sheet (PDF)