Silver Mound Artemisia, Angels-Hair, or Wormwood

(Asteraceae [also known as Compositae] - Daisy Family)

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• Form
  • small herbaceous perennial
  • maturing at about 1' tall by 1.5' wide
  • spreading mound growth habit

• Culture
  • full sun to partial sun
  • placement in moist, well-drained, relatively infertile soils in full sun prevents excessive vertical vegetative growth, which will usually prevent the center of the foliage mound from unattractively opening up and separating by mid-Summer
  • if placed in fertile soils, the foliage may grow from 1' to 1.5' tall; in this case, clump splittiing can be prevented or delayed by shearing the foliage back halfway in July, before flowering begins
  • tolerant of poor soils, dry soils, heat, and drought
  • propagated by crown division or by rooted stem cuttings
  • Daisy Family, with stem rot or foliage rust under humid conditions being the two primary disease problems, and with no significant pest problems
  • moderately available in containers

• Foliage
  • alternate, silvery-green tomentose leaves arise from short stems, and are twice palmately divided into linear segments of extremely fine foliage texture
  • fall color remains silvery, until quickly dying back to the crown with the initial frosts

• Flowers
  • inflorescences are silver in bud and yellow-white in flower, are small, sparse to non-existent, may be unnoticed above the silver foliage, are ornamentally insignificant, and bloom in August (if at all)

• Fruits
  • ornamentally insignificant

• Twigs
  • not applicable

• Trunk
  • not applicable

• ID Summary
  • extremely fine-textured, silvery, hair-like foliage occurs on mounds of hidden herbaceous stems, and is the primary feature of this low-spreading foliage perennial, which tends to split apart at the center of the crown in mid-Summer if it is not annually divided or placed in poor soils, and has sparse flowering in mid- to late Summer (if at all) that is ornamentally insignificant

• Function
  • edging, specimen, border, mass planting, rock garden, or focal point mounding perennial

• Texture
  • very fine texture
  • thick density

• Assets
  • silver-colored, fine-textured foliage in a spreading mound form
  • works well as a neutral spacer or framing plant, in combination with perennials whose flowers are mostly in the cool color range (pink, lavender, blue, purple, and even scarlet to maroon)
  • fairly drought tolerant

• Liabilities
  • foliage often splits apart in the center of the clump by mid-Summer for mature-size clumps
  • foliage may rot or rust under high humidity conditions

• Habitat
  • zones 3 to 7
  • native to Japan

• Alternates
  • herbaceous plants with silvery-gray foliage (Antennaria dioica, Artemisia species, Cerastium tomentosum, Helichrysum petiolare, Perovskia atriplicifolia, Stachys byzantina, etc.)

• Variants
  • Artemisia schmidtiana 'Silver Mound' (also known as 'Nana') - the standard form available, as described throughout this text; this is the only common Artemisia that has a prostrate growth habit, and is one of the few that is not invasive by underground rhizomes
  • several species, cultivars, and hybrids of Artemisia exist, usually noteworthy as silver- or gray-foliaged perennials of various upright growth habits and medium to fine textures, often used as foliage perennials that mix well with cooler-colored perennials (those with pink, lavender, blue, or purple flowers, or even scarlet or maroon among the semi-warm colors)

• Translation
  • Artemisia is named for the Greek deity Artemis, goddess of chastity.

• Purpose
  • Silver Mound Artemisia is a perennial that is very effective when used along walkways or in the front of the perennial garden bed for its silver color, fine texture, and mounding habit.

• Summary
  • Artemisia schmidtiana 'Silver Mound' is a silver-foliaged, fine-textured, mounding perennial that serves as an excellent edging plant.