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Comfrey Variety Selector: Which One For Your Garden

Every recommendation below traces back to our full Comfrey varieties comparison — this page is the fast route to one answer for your specific situation, no clicking through required.

If: A feed patch, for liquid feed and mulching or Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice

Bocking 14

Sterile hybrid, non-invasive, and doesn't self-seed, the cultivar named specifically for liquid feed. A mature crown cut two to three times a season from its second year onward produces a substantial armful of leaf per cut, and it cannot be grown from seed at all, only bought as a plant or propagated by root cuttings, crowns or division.

If: Ornamental ground cover → Compact, tidy, works in any aspect or Ornamental ground cover → Not sure, just give me the safest all-round ornamental choice

Hidcote Blue

The most compact of the three ornamental forms, suited to cottage gardens, wildlife gardens, borders, ground cover and banks or slopes, and it tolerates any aspect, north, south, east or west-facing. It also carries some informal (not RHS-confirmed) reputation for coping in dry shade. It carries a general nuisance/containment caution once established, but unlike common comfrey it doesn't self-seed, since its spread comes from clump growth rather than seed.

If: Ornamental ground cover → Fast, dense, low cover under shrubs

Creeping comfrey (S. grandiflorum)

The quickest of the three ornamental forms to knit into a weed-suppressing mat, with a spread of 0.5 to 1m, and its flowers open in distinctive one-sided hanging sprays. Like tuberous comfrey, it has the potential to become a nuisance once established and needs ongoing management to keep it within bounds.

If: Ornamental ground cover → A wilder, informal planting I can leave alone

Tuberous comfrey (S. tuberosum)

The slowest of the three ornamental forms to reach maturity, stated to take two to five years, spreading by rhizome rather than seed. Its small, pendent, pale creamy-yellow flower clusters suit an informal cottage or wildlife-garden setting better than a tidy border edge. Like creeping comfrey, it has the potential to become a nuisance once established and needs ongoing management.

Answer these as a quick wizard instead →
Comfrey growing guide →Full Comfrey varieties comparison →

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