PlantFiles: Artemisia, Wormwood
Artemisia 'Powis Castle'

This is very easy to propagate, as every stem, that touches the ground, sprouts. If yours doesn't put a rock on a branch to hold it to the ground and wait awhile.

Within one season, this was a full, beautiful plant that is evergreen here. Shearing it is OK for the first spring following planting when it puts on new growth, but I would encourage you to cut it back to about 10" the following year, making sure to leave some branches where you can actually see new leaf growth appearing below it. If you cut it back below the area of new growth or if you cut it back too soon, it may well die. I let mine go with shearing an additional year, but it was so woody that I was really sick of it by the following year. Don't cut it back in the fall. It is not invasive but is a sprawler if you don't cut it back every other year or so.

This plant is striking on a hot, dry south facing slope with other xeric plants. (Agastache, russian sage, pentstemons, kashmir sage, coreopsis etc) The soil has lots of clay and I try to add sand to the soil for certain plants, such as this one. This area is quite cold in winter(has been down to -25F) with the powis castle surviving. I think snow cover, or lack thereof is a big factor in the results. We just came through an unusually warm(for here) winter which caused more plants to be exposed to wet/slush and then freeze/thaw. So I am waiting to see how the powis castle survived. I know at least one did and may provide a bit of protection in the future if warrented. The deer don't touch this plant which is a huge plus. (Have had as many as 4 dozen in the adjacent field so the pressure was high.) Pruning it back in the spring is a key to having a full, bushy plant by summer. At any rate, I love this plant!

planted 2 years ago in sun, good soil, no extra water. Grew very fast to about 4 feet across and 2 feet tall, and looked great for about a year and a half. Very silvery, nice smelling, touchable looking plant. This winter it started looking really leggy so I cut it way back to about a foot high. It looked ugly with awkward bare stems for the early part of the spring but by May had filled in nicely.

We have grown a couple of these in a very sunny, dry spot. They have grown larger every year, and require little water and almost no care. Foliage is a nice silvery color, and full. Plant them in a spot where they have some room to get bigger. We do cut a little dead foliage off once a year, and deadhead after the little yellow flowers are done.

I believe (but have yet to verify) that this plant originated as a hybrid between Artemisia arborescens and Artemisia absinthium.

I had a Powis Casle for two years and loved it, so bought several more last year, but lost almost half of them over the winter. The ones that didn't die are much smaller than they were last summer, coming in on only one branch of each. I live in SE Michigan, zone 6a, and we did NOT have a bad winter last year. I have them in full to part sun in good sandy loam soil. Can anyone explain why this might have happened? I don't know whether to try again.

I grow this plant hot & dry, and by summer I have a silver shrub 3' tall x 4-5' wide, compact foliage, excellent contrast to any brightly colored flowers. Early spring I cut it back to the main branches about 6-8" off the ground, and soon the new foliage fills in green. As summer heats up it goes silver and stays silver through winter. No pests or diseases, no pruning, no watering, no fertilizing.

The texture and color of this artemisia makes a wonderful addition in the landscape. I have planted it in various locations, sun, half day sun, wet clay, well-drained even sandy soil and all of my plants transplanted well and grew nicely, but none of them made it through chicago winters. I doubt this plants hardiness here.

A lovely accent plant that can help to hide the dying foliage of many bulbs. It does need a shearing once in a while and then it's ugly for a week or so. On the whole I like it, especially the fine cut foliage.

Attractive, fern-like silvery foliage -- a nice background for flowers. Mine serves as an understorey for roses, and perennials that tend to get leggy. It throws out long (2-4') stems that can go bare at the center as the long summer in Florida (USDA zone 9a) comes to an end. The upside to this growth habit is that you can air-weave (propagate) these long, leggy stems by slightly abrading the stem and burying it (I use a landscaping staple, but a y-shaped stick would do the trick). Can unify a bed. Not at all invasive like Silver King, another cultivar of Artemisia.
Highest recommendation for a low-care, foliage plant in an annual or perennial bed where, say, lambs ear wouldn't survive.

My first year with this plant, having installed 4" pots, was very good. Had them in a sunny area, didn't need much water. The second year they took over the perennial bed. I didn't do any pruning back and by the winter, when I went to cut back the bare twiggy growth, a lot of the less aggressive perennials had been killed off by lack of light from the artemisia.

Still, very attractive foliage, in season, but overly aggressive and looks poor out of season.

To keep the plant dense and compact, keep it pruned all summer. Prune it back only once a year, in late winter, leaving short ( 12 inches) woody stems with lots of buds. Do not prune in summer, so the plant is spreading but full.

'Powis Castle' may also be used as an accent near taller shrubs because of its neat, mounding growth habit.

This baby turned out to be a showstopper in my NM garden. I planted it from a 4" pot and in one season it got to be about 3-1/2 feet tall by about 4 feet around. It was huge and beautiful, tall and tempting for its fabulous fragrance, and always receiving praise from many admirers besides me! It received full western sun in a xeri bed along rock and wildflowers and just prospered! The flowers on it were so pretty!

Given an annual haircut, it bounces back and gets bushier -- a fantastic plant as filler, background or specimen! Definitely a keeper!

I have a number of different artemisias which seem to thrive in my hot dry climate and alkaline soil. Powis Castle is one of my favorites - it never gets leggy and is a tidy mound of pleasantly pungent silver foliage. Another bonus is that the deer leave it alone. I have some drumstick alliums growing up through one and it is quite striking with the magenta globes appearing to be flowering on the Powis Castle.

I have really enjoyed my Artemisia Powis Castle. It is important to give them lots of room to grow as they get very big!

Has yellow blooms in late summer but it's best to remove the flowers. This plant was given to me as a small plant in the spring and it's really gone wild. Sure adds some nice color in the garden this time of year.

I have several of these and love them in my beds or stand-alone. No pests, no problems that I know.