Powis Castle will grow quite large too and travel unless you decide to keep it in check. I don't worry much, if it comes up where I don't want it its very easy to pull out since the roots are not that deep, a hand trowel will suffice to cut it back at the root zone. I have a lot of Silver King that is forming a long border along my west side. Its gorgeous and I start new ones by pulling up runners and transplanting them to add to the line of silver.

Silver mound does terrible in my climate. It just sort of melts into what looks like a mangy flat dead mess that is ugly once the heat cranks up. Its a good well behaved type, but not here.

I got a start of Valerie Finnis from a friend. It has the same almost white color of S.K. but its smaller in every respect. It spreads underground but is easily manageable. I have starts of this all around the place. We are both trying out Silver Queen even though we read it is quite aggressive. Sometimes this is a good thing though. I can't report on this one yet.

I've also been growing Artemisia frigida (Fringed Sage) for years now. It is a SW native variety and it spreads very slowly via underground but mostly it increases in size by stems that root as they make soil contact, its a bit bluer than some. Its very delicate and easy to control. Needs very good drainage. I started it from seed I purchased from Plants of the SW.

I am growing Sand Sage (A. filifolia) from seed I also purchased from PoSW which I will plant next spring. Its a desert variety that forms a 4ft shrub with tiny narrow leaves and swirling branches. Other shrub types are Big Sage (A. tridentata) and Silver Sage (A. cana) These native desert types don't spread by rhizomes underground, they form shrubs but all need sharp drainage and resent too much moisture.

I bought a start of Southernwood (A. abrotanum) this last spring. As with most artemisias, it spreads via underground..

If you want the types that stay put, you almost have to get the SW native shrub types I mentioned.

Have you considered A. lactiflora, especially 'Guizhou'. It would seem they would be heat tolerant for you. These are known for their flowers and need moist soil and some partial shade. Very different growing conditions and look.

Here is an interesting page I ran across of several varieties of artemisia's, many are not the typical common commercial nursery fare. This company sells seeds and plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.richters.com/show.cgi?page=HerbOfTheYear/2014artemisia.html

a.stelleriana has been well-behaved for me - have always been a bit wary since they have world domination tendencies in my sandy soil.......

I find that Artemisias that are well behaved in central Texas might make havoc in Pennsylvania. Powis castle is well behaved here. The stems might root where the layer in the ground , but easy to deal with . But I heard someone having a lot of problems with it in PA. I just deeded a small hillside to A." Silver Queen" that has an atrocious reputation. It is an A. ludoviciana type and they are runners. They run here but not to far, but I hear horror stories about them elsewhere. I guess I will learn.

I just planted a Silver king also and deeded it a large area.

I have been growing Artemisia 'Valery Finis" and I had it in garden soil with normal garden moisture and it was very well behaved at another home in Austin (fertile clay loam). The clump staid in a 4' area. It is an A. ludiviciana but it is well behaved amazingly. I took it out to where I am now, divided it into four and set it in limestone soil that had a couple of inches of sandy composty garden soil spread on it and mixed in. IT LOVED the arid nature of this garden. It has behaved differently out here. It has created a dense clump of fine growth. I have been generous and and dug up some to spread the wealth to a swap this week end. It covers a 8' x 5' area now after 10 years and I LOVE IT. I cut it down in winter. The seeds are sterile, I think. I have never had any seed out in my not so friendly soil. Oh, I never water it. It disappeared during the big drought where it got 5" and no additional water. It reappeared with the rains.

I have maintained the same size for several years now with a little digging around the stone wall once every other year maybe three and digging out some border babies. not much work. I made 6 gallons of starts for people. The rosemary had a hard time in a freeze followed by a drought and then a bad freeze again. It is doing fine this year but I haven't been out with my camera.

I think that with any artemisia, that one has to realize that it is not a small plant and expect it to keep a confined footprint. It will behave differently in different soils and conditions. It likes alkalinity.

Here it is in spring making an appearance and then later in the year.

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I've grown Powys Castle for many years in a number of different places in my gardens. While it's true it can root, it has never, ever "traveled" anywhere. It's not a root traveler. But it is a beauty.

The only real problem I've ever encountered with "Powis Castle" is death from winter.

A. 'Powis Castle' in my sisters garden in Kansas, zone 6. This started out as one plant. The water dept. people couldn't find her meter and she had to chop some of it out. She is letting it have its way and its filling that corner quite nicely where it cooks in summer.

Personally, unless you are doing a stingy border this is a good plant to have for a statement. I am growing my own drift here. I prefer bold statements.

Silver King being used to fill in at will in an ugly spot by an ugly fence in morning sun only. This has turned out to be a very useful (free) plant in soil that is impacted and full of tree roots. I just keep plunking them in and letting it romp.

The smaller artemisia in the bottom photo is A. filifolia (fringed sage), it has proven to be very adaptable for a desert type. You can start a new plant from stems that have rooted. I have several of these around the property. All of the A. 'Silver Mound' plant I tried died this summer. This area has been changed a lot this summer, I added an area of Powis Castle in the right bottom corner of this picture and its coming around fine, I want it to fill in to add a different texture. I am turning this whole west side into the 'Silver Garden" with blue O. macrocentra cactus, various artemisia's and Little Bluestem dominating.

Silver Mound is one that is very well behaved. It's really silvery and soft looking and seems to be better behaved than Powis Castle. I have not experienced the "traveling" problem at all, but just read it does best if you divide it every few years, which means it must REALLY clump!

Here is a link that might be useful: Silver Mound

grandmama you must be in a less hot and humid zone 7 than me. The only luck I've had with silver mound is in nearly total shade here. That poor thing looks like an old roadkill after 400+ cars have run over it, only a bit of the fur is left. I bought 10 of them and lost them all except one plant that is in full shade. Its always for sale in nursery's but I never see nice clumps growing anywhere around here.......hum, I wonder why? On the other hand, I saw an entire front yard the other day that was at least 3/4's taken up with Powis Castle. The people seemed to be using it as a lawn replacement....

I dug up a wild silver one--a prairie sage in Kansas-- obviously a member of the mugwort family. We are talking serious world domination on that one, much more aggressive than Silver King underground. One I like is the annual, Sweet Annie if you cut it before it seeds. I absolutely love the smell and it makes great wreaths and a nice plant (in my eyes anyway which tends toward wild and rangy at times) I know green mugwort is a plant that originated in Gardener's Hell from everything I have read and its not even silver, makes you wonder why would anyone want to plant that? But, people have.

I also read that planting Wormwood is just asking for trouble but even the ones that spread have been easily manageable for me because you can practically just pull it out of the ground after a decent rain.

Silver mounds disappear in the summer here. They just vaporize. Maybe it is the overhead watering.. These studies from Chicago are not that relative for me. I go for the ones they have problems with. The other thing that they do not mention when they say that A absinthium is one of their best performers is that it is considered a very invasive pest plant in agricultural lands in the north with acres and acres being taken over. It is kind of like pushing crack. At least there are other ones that are from this country and have an environmental niche.

Here is a link that might be useful: Center for invasive Species management

I've never grown wormwood so I don't know how it behaves, I know its invasive in some parts. What I meant was the other artemisia's I have experience with which spread underground pull out easily, its not like something you can't get rid of if you decide to either, they are very easy to dig out completely.

This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Wed, Oct 22, 14 at 23:33

Thank you, All!

I have Ghizou Group--had it long ago, I remember the name 'Humpty Dumpty' being associated with it. That plant died out and I just planted a new one this Summer--fingers crossed! It's awesome!

I'll be researching all your suggestions and taking into consideration your personal experiences with certain plants.