The Uses for Dusty Miller

Containers

• Dusty miller makes an effective foil for plants with colorful flowers. In container plantings, its silvery leaves work well paired with pink-flowering geraniums, such as "Apple Blossom Rosebud" (Pelargonium x hortorum "Apple Blossom Rosebud"), hardy in USDA zones 10 through 11. In containers that receive partial shade, combine dusty miller with lavender-blooming New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri), hardy in USDA zones 9 or 10 through 12.

Beds and Borders

• Both formal and informal garden beds and borders have a place for dusty miller. The plant is relatively deer-resistant, a boon to gardeners living in areas where deer are a problem. If the plant is installed in mid-spring, when it generally becomes available in garden centers, its foliage is effective for covering the ripening leaves of spring-flowering plants. Because dusty miller's silvery leaves remain throughout the growing season, the plant provides landscape continuity when interspersed among plantings with shorter seasons of interest.

Camouflage

• Sometimes medium to tall garden annuals, biennials, perennials and even shrubs have beautiful flowers but ugly stems and leaves. That is the case with plants such as New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), hardy in USDA zones 4 through 8, tall, annual zinnias (Zinnia elegans) and even hybrid tea roses (Rosa spp.), generally hardy in zones 5 through 9. The gray dusty miller foliage camouflages the ugly "legs" of the taller plants, allowing them to shine when in bloom. Foliage plants also cover bare spots left when bloomers such as the asters have faded.

Varieties

• Because of dusty miller's usefulness as a foliage plant, breeders have developed varieties of the plant. "Silver Dust" (Senecio cineraria "Silver Dust"), hardy in USDA zones 8 through 11, is one of them. It features very deeply dissected silver leaves and grows about 12 inches tall. "Cirrus" (Senecio cineraria "Cirrus"), also hardy in USDA zones 8 through 11, features leaves that appear nearly white in some light situations. Both varieties bear yellow flowers, but many gardeners remove them because they detract from the visual impact of the foliage.