Plant in full sun in any well-drained soil with regular to only occasional irrigation - after establishment it is quite drought tolerant though grows larger with an occasional watering and will tolerate regular irrigation if soil drains very well. This hardy plant will survive temperatures well below 0 degrees F - some say it useful in USDA Zone 4a down to -30 °F. A great plant for its foliage in the dry garden and in flower it becomes a stunning flowering accent - since it is a biennial, it will usually die after flowering but often self-sows its seeds in the garden to perpetuate itself and some say the flowering stems can be pinched out to prolong the foliage clumps (we have not tried this). It is attractive to butterflies, and the fuzzy leaves resist animal predation.

Verbascum bombyciferum is thought to grow naturally in mountainous regions of Greece and Turkey and has naturalized in England and in Sonoma County in California but has not been seen as a problem in urban plantings or in other areas of California. There is some confusion about this plant's actual name and origin and it is often listed as "unresolved" or as a synonym with Verbascum longifolium. Some also list it as native to the mountains of Greece but regional floras list it as an endemic to Uludag Mountain near the city of Bursa in northwestern Turkey and Verbascum longifolium comes from Central & S. Italy to Balkan Peninsula. The name for the genus comes from the original Latin name for the plant which likely comes from the combination of the stem word 'ver' meaning "spring" combined with 'barbascum' meaning "bearded" in reference to the often hairy leaves of the genus. Verbascum bombyciferum was first described in 1844 by the Swiss botanist Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810-1885) from a collection made in 1842 with the specific epithet coming from the Latin words 'bombyx' (from the Greek 'bombc') which means "silkworm", "silk" or "silk garment" and 'fero' meaning "to carry" or "to bear" in reference to the silky leaves of this species. The name Arctic Summer given to this seed selection is fitting as it appears to be covered with a silver-gray frost even in mid-summer. Other common names include Polar Summer, Silver Lining, Turkish Mullein and Giant Silver Mullein and Broussa Mullein in England.

We grew this attractive plant from 1996 until closing the nursery in 2025 from seed purchased from Jelito Perennial Seeds (Jelitto Staudensamen GmbH) in Germany. 

The information displayed on this page about Verbascum bombyciferum 'Arctic Summer' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.