great burnet
Sanguisorba officinalis
RHS Plants for Pollinators
- Habit
- Herb
- Bloom season
- Spring, summer, autumn
- Bloom color
- Dark red to black purple
- Soil types
- Sand, loam, clay, chalk
- Soil pH
- Acid, alkaline, neutral
Garden uses
Attracts
Notes
Great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) is a perennial for borders, pollinator gardens, and low maintenance beds. It is hardy to USDA zone 4, or down to -30°F (-34°C). This plant likes full sun and average to moist soil of most types. Dark red to black purple blooms open in early to late summer and attract bees. It is not a favorite of deer, though hungry deer will eat almost anything.
Pairs well with Globe thistle, White Swan coneflower, Album culver’s root, and Black-eyed Susan.
Native range
North America, Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, and 21 more places. See all 25
North America, Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Magadan, Manchuria, NW. Balkan Pen., Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Tuva, Türkiye, Xinjiang, and Yakutiya.