Artemisia: Flower Spotlight
This article comes from our series of flower spotlights, which are adaptations of the newsletters we send to members of our flower share throughout the season. You can see more spotlights by heading here.
Artemisia annua and Artemisia ludoviciana, Sweet Annie and Silver Sage, respectively
Dried sweet annie.
The Artemisia genus is, of course, near and dear to me as a representative genus of our farm name. Both these plants are typical of the genus, with strong scents and tapered inflorescences with many many florets. I first fell in love with Artemisia as a girl, camping in the sagebrush lands of Artemisia tridentata with my parents, exploring deserts and canyons. I can't say why, exactly, it's named for the goddess, but perhaps as a plant of the wildlands, or something stumbled upon while hunting.
Artemisia annua has a very christmassy scent and may remind you of the wreaths in craft stores. We start it early in the season, around March, for transplanting around our last frost. It's a tiny little plant when it goes into the ground, but by this time it towers over my head and produces a person-sized bush full of strongly scented flowers. It's excellent for drying and making into wreaths or potpourri.
A. ludoviciana is named for the state of Louisiana, or perhaps for the state's namesake, King Louis XIV. My guess is that in fact it was described by someone exploring the Louisiana Territory, the purchase of which by President Thomas Jefferson occasioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806. This is a perennial native with long silvery leaves and dangling spheres of flowers up and down its length. This one is less scented, but is equally delightful and just as good for drying. I started this from seed in early 2021, and planted it out at some point that year. It bloomed the first year and has done so again after easily surviving the winter. The one issue is that it grows so tall and topples over! Next season I'll have to create a better support trellis.
Artemisia tridentata, my first Artemisian love.