In the 1950s we walked to school and played in the fields, often using plants in our games. I remember playing with yarrow’s pale-pastel confetti petals when very young, and later delighting to discover that its scientific name, Achillea millefolium L., refers to the story that Achilles used it to staunch his soldiers’ wounds in ancient Greece (Grigson, 1955). This story has been repeated in the literature down the centuries, alongside the long oral tradition of ordinary folk applying yarrow (or ‘bloudworte’ (Gerard, 1526)) to stop bleeding. It is not an easy plant to paint: very pale flowers on white paper are always a challenge, and the leaves, which poet John Clare (Tibble, 1935) likened to ‘little ferns’ are complicated indeed. Dissecting such intricate subjects helps me to understand their structure and draw them accurately.