Cultivar selected from the dyer's chamomile, a robust and generous perennial widely spread in gardens since the early 20th century. The wild variety, native to Central and Southern Europe and Western Asia, grows spontaneously in wastelands, calcareous slopes, roadsides, and well-drained disturbed grounds, where it forms vigorous clumps with abundant and prolonged flowering.
'Wargrave' is distinguished from the type species by the color of its ligules, a creamy to very soft and bright pale yellow, elegantly contrasting with the bright yellow central disc, offering a more subtle and refined effect than the intense yellow of the botanical species. Upright and airy clump habit of 60 to 80 cm, with branched stems bearing finely pinnatisect foliage, aromatic when crushed, of a medium green slightly grayish. Extremely generous and prolonged flowering, from June until the first frosts if the plant is regularly deadheaded, producing a multitude of solitary capitula at the top of the branches.
Easy culture in full sun and well-drained soil, even poor and dry, conditions in which the plant is most floriferous and long-lived. Does not tolerate heavy and wet soils in winter, which cause collar rot and reduce the plant's lifespan, naturally quite short. A severe refreshment after the first bloom stimulates vigorous regrowth and a second wave of flowers at the end of the season. Excellent plant for beds, flowering meadows, and naturalistic gardens, remarkable in association with salvias, perennial geraniums, and light grasses.