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Tending the crop…
🌸 Flower
How to Grow Tansy
The button-yellow perennial that old gardens planted by the door — traditional companion to roses and fruit trees, tough as nails, and a flower for dried bouquets that never fades.
Harvest
120 Days
Sunlight
full
Watering
low
Medium
in-ground
Spacing
2 sq ft
-100%
Return on Investment
One tansy plant produces roughly 0 lbs. Worth $0.00 vs a $3.99 seed cost.
Practical Maintenance
- Light: Full Sun (6+ hrs/day)
- Water: Low — drought tolerant once established
- Spacing: 2 sq ft per plant.
Champion Varieties
Lineages for your homestead goals
Common Tansy
The classic — ferny foliage, button-yellow flowers, a 3-foot perennial.
Crispa
A curled, decorative form grown for foliage texture.
Isla Gold
A golden-foliaged cultivar — ornamental in the border all season.
Guilds & Companions
Permaculture Allies
Complete Care Guide
Soil · Water · First 30 days · Monthly care · Troubleshooting · Harvest
Soil
Any soil, any fertility — tansy thrives everywhere from clay to gravel. pH 5.5–8.0. A perennial that tolerates what kills other herbs; its only demand is sun. In rich moist soil it will simply do better than you want it to.
Watering
Minimal — 1/2 inch weekly for young plants, then nothing. Mature tansy survives drought that browns the lawn. Wet, rich ground is how it becomes a thug.
🗓️ The First 30 Days
- Days 1–7Direct sow 1/4 inch deep after frost, or divide a mature plant's roots in spring. Tansy is easier to start from division than seed — anyone with a plant will share.
- Days 8–21Keep young plants lightly watered through establishment. It grows fast — 2–3 feet in its first season from a vigorous root.
- Days 22–30Pinch tips once or twice to shape a bushy plant. Otherwise tansy mostly runs its own life; it requires nothing from you but a spot.
📆 Monthly Care
- Month 1Month 1: Plant near roses and fruit trees — tansy is the classic stubborn companion, historically planted to deter ants and Japanese beetles (evidence is folkloric, the pollinator draw is real).
- Month 2