Plants with Cool Foliage: Silver Mound (Artemisia schmidtiana)

Could their be a more aptly named plant than ‘Silver Mound’? Artemisia schmidtiana has several common names like wormwood, mugwort, sagebrush, or just silver mound (which to me is the most descriptive.) This mounding perennial has soft silvery gray foliage that invites the casual observer reach down to touch it. It’s hard to walk by without petting the ‘Silver Mound’. It’s drought tolerant which is a highly prized feature in many perennial plants.

The puffy little plant is grown for its foliage but can spread through seed created by its small yellow flowers. It likes gardens in zones 3 through 7 and will grow to around 15 inches wide by 8-10 inches tall. My ‘Silver mound’s have exploded with growth since I planted them 6 weeks ago.

I planted my artemisia as a border-groundcover in our front sidewalk garden. I planted Russian Sage, Salvia nemorosa, and ‘Stella D’ Oro’ daylilies along with the ‘Silver Mound’. There is an ‘Oranges and Lemons’ gaillardia as well as another salvia that I believe is a Salvia lyrata with purple foliage in the sidewalk garden.

How to Propagate Silver Mound Artemisia

Silver mound is also fairly easy to propagate through stem cuttings during the summer. Just take a 3 inch stem tip cutting and stick it in sand after applying rooting hormone. I have seven more started with plans to take additional ‘Silver Mound’ artemisia cuttings later in the summer.

how to divide hostas

How to Propagate Hostas through Division

Hostas are one of my favorite garden plants so it stands to reason that I like to propagate more! The propagation of hostas is done primarily through division which is a very simple process. Like any process there are several methods that will work to…

Read More

How to Grow Russian Sage – from Planting to Propagation

Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia or Salvia yangii), is an absolutely awesome perennial plant that I have always enjoyed in my garden. With its silvery-green foliage and tall spires of lavender-blue flowers, Russian Sage has a knack for standing out among the perennials. It has serrated…

Read More

The Salvias of Fall in my Garden

I have repeatedly written about how awesome salvias are.  I hope you’re not tired of that kind of talk because your about to get another dose!  Salvias are one of the easiest to care for perennials around. During fall they bloom profusely. They aren’t bothered…

Read More

How to Buy Mums (Hardy Chrysanthemum)

OK, you might be thinking to yourself that this headline “How to Buy Mums” is about a topic we don’t even need to discuss. Really, how hard can it be? You go to the nursery, pick out a full bushy plant full of blooms. You…

Read More

Russian Sage in the Garden

What a difference three years makes in the life of a plant. Welcome to my front sidewalk garden at the beginning of July. You will notice right off the bat several flowering perennials on the left side of the sidewalk that could use a little…

Read More
How to Grow Heuchera, Care and Maintenance

Heuchera Care, Maintenance, and Propagation

Heuchera are one of my favorite plants. I say that phrase a lot though, but really, heuchera, also known as coral bells, are awesome perennials that gardeners just love due to the beautiful foliage and versatility in garden design. Most heucheras you will find are…

Read More

Discover more from Growing The Home Garden

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

8 thoughts on “Plants with Cool Foliage: Silver Mound (Artemisia schmidtiana)”

  1. They are lovely plants Dave…and look how many you shall have soon!

    They are a lovely foil with the purple and darker green leaved plants.

    Gail

  2. Dave, does this plant stay or is it supposed to spread? It is a lovely plant. I wouldn’t mind having some here in my garden. It is very soft looking.

  3. Tina,

    I’m glad you like where I put it! What did you plant your’s with?

    Skeeter,

    You would definitely be tempted to plant it daily. It’s just a fun plant to have I think!

    Gail,

    I hope that the serve well as the border groundcover. I need to show the shots of the sidewalk garden now. The Russian sage is blooming which looks great with the silver mound underneath.

    Aunt Debbie,

    how big does your’s get? These are getting close to their maximum size already. Of course growing conditions could alter that!

    Lola,

    It pretty much stays put but gives away some babies. Although I really wouldn’t mind it at all if it did spread.

  4. I have one of these plants and absolutely love it, but this year (it's about 6 years old now), it's got a hole in the centre – can I divide it where the hole is or is it better to cut part of it away and try to get the clippings to root to plant them elsewhere?

  5. Hi Lisa!

    Ours aren't looking so good this year either. All the rain we've has pushed the foliage to the outside of the plants creating a hole in the center where the crown of the roots are. I would wait until spring when the new foliage is just beginning to emerge then dig them up and divide them. You could try to root some of the branches that are getting leggy. They are great plants but are prone to get the hole in the center.

Comments are closed.

Discover more from Growing The Home Garden

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading