Antennaria plantaginifolia - Plantain-leaved Pussy Toes

Antennaria plantaginifolia - Plantain-leaved Pussy ToesSizes available: TBD, ready in early June, 2026 Basics: zones 3 8, 12" x 6"+, full sun to part shade, mid spring bloom that looks like little kitten toes on fuzzy stalks over low growing mats of silvery foliage, likes lean and slightly acid soils, drought tolerant. Common names: Pussy Toes, Plantain leaved Pussy Toes, Ladies' Tobacco, Mouse Ear, Everlasting Family: Asteraceae Origin Distribution: Quebec and Maine, south to Florida, west to Louisiana,

Sizes available: TBD, ready in early June, 2026

Basics: zones 3-8, 12" x 6"+, full sun to part shade, mid spring bloom that looks like little kitten toes on fuzzy stalks over low-growing mats of silvery foliage, likes lean and slightly acid soils, drought tolerant.

Common names: Pussy Toes, Plantain-leaved Pussy Toes, Ladies' Tobacco, Mouse Ear, Everlasting

Family: Asteraceae

Origin/Distribution: Quebec and Maine, south to Florida, west to Louisiana, and north to Minnesota, native to Maine

Habitat: open, sunny, dry, lean, rocky

More: Larval host for the American Painted Lady, Vanessa virginensis, which is native to Maine. Excellent rock garden resident, or at the front of a dry, sunny border. I am testing out how much shade it can tolerate. In certain situations this could replace scraggly, ineffective lawn very nicely, I think. Stoloniferous and mat-forming as well as deer and rabbit resistant. This plant is dioecious. Closely related to Antennaria parlinii ssp. fallax which I also grow.

Source: Pizzo Native Plants, 2025

Image credits: Kristyna Culp (overall form) and Fritz Flohr Reynolds (detail) - both via Creative Commons through the North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox; flowering stems in the leaves, Honey Petal Plants