Foliage Filler: 3 Reasons to Grow Licorice

Some of my best trips to the garden shops occur when I’m not looking for anything in particular. It was on one of those trips, on a sunny June day, that I first encountered Helichrysum petiolare, a licorice plant. 

Helichrysum petiolare is to the garden what chicken is to mealtime: versatile, easy and inexpensive. 

1. Versatile

Great for Container Planting

Have you heard the ‘thriller, spiller, filler,’ recipe for container planting?

Do you like a relaxed gardening look with plants trailing over the side of planters? Helichrysum petiolare is made for that. However, I’ve also planted it in the ground in a flower bed.

Add vertical interest to flower arrangements

If you spend any time putting flowers in vases, you’re likely hunting for additions of anything to give a bit of height and architectural drama to your bouquets. The licorice vines will grow a couple of feet long.

I’ve clipped a few of the vines for a cut flower arrangement as well as a handful of vines tucked in a vase sans flowers. The vase life is about two weeks.

You know how you can twist the candy vines into shapes? The plants are nearly as bendy as the candy so the vines can be bent around blooms or other plants in your containers.

2. Low Maintenance, Easy to Grow

I did nothing to my first Helichrysum petiolare but water it occasionally. And that was with a drought the first summer I grew it. The plant grew from a 2-inch pot to a trailing over the sides of a big hanging basket in one season.

Also, I bought my Helichrysum in June, it’s December and it’s still hanging over our barn porch.

3. Inexpensive

I think I paid $2.50 for the Helichrysum and we’ve been enjoying it for seven months now.  We’re supposed to have a hard frost tonight (Dec. 3) so I’m thinking about moving it in the house and turning it into a garland for our Christmas tree in a couple weeks.

Here is a free printable of this post to take to the garden center

Your turn:

What are your must grow plants? Tell me your experience with Helichrysum. What about the thriller, spiller and filler theory? Do you have any magical potting combinations?