Forgotten treasures

I've always been a fan of Artemisia schmidtiana, more commonly known as Silver Mound. The best part of this perennial plant is its the super soft, velvet feel. I just want to pet it like it's some strange green bunny. It's cold tolerant to zone 3, so it can easily live here in Gorham.

I bought one at Broadway Gardens in South Portland last summer. It lived in a pot near the herbs for the whole season and then last fall, after it had died back, I rather unceremoniously dumped the soil from the pot into the garden and forgot about it. I figured that it wouldn't make it through the winter and then I'd just turn the whole business in when it came time to plant this year's veggies.

Who'd have thunk that the little bugger would survive and be all green and fuzzy now? I've got a thing for those plants that keep on going despite my best efforts against them and so this little guy is going to get a garden spot somewhere nice.

Artemisia likes to be in full sun and thrives in poor but well-drained soil. It's feathery leaves are silvery and super soft, so mine is going to go somewhere that I can touch it occasionally. It's also pretty low maintenance and doesn't usually spread so far that it needs to be divided. In fact, most of the information that I've dug up on Artemisia says to plant it somewhere that it won't be disturbed.

I'm not really sure where it'll end up just yet, but I'm really glad that it came back.