Artemisia stelleriana 'Mori's Strain'

Artemisia are prized for their aromatic silver leaves, excellent texture and vigorous growth. While this perennial does not flower conspicuously they are valued for their contrasting foliage which provide interesting texture and design to the border.

Artemisia stelleriana 'Mori's Strain', also known as 'Boughton Silver' is a superior, dense, mat-forming selection. It features uniquely shaped silver-white felted leaves with deeply divided, rounded lobes. This ground hugging artemisia forms very attractive low mounds, it grows to just 15cm (6in) tall spreads 45 to 60cm (18 to 24in) wide, giving an attractive ground-hugging carpet.
The plant has a compact growth pattern that seldom needs pruning except to keep the foliage contained or remove dead and diseased stems. It can be cut back in spring or sheared during the summer if needed, new foliage will flush out quickly.
In late summer the flowers on small felty stems blend in perfectly with the foliage. Hardy to minus 15°C (5°F), the plants are deer and rabbit resistant and able to handle environmental salt, they are a good choice for planting in coastal areas.

The plants are ideally suited to hot, dry spots and look wonderful creeping through a rockery or spilling over the edges of a Mediterranean-style border. It also works a treat in container plantings.
In the border they bring a touch of glamour to creative groupings of flowers and grasses, the heavily textured deeply lobed leaves add interest throughout the season and its foliage makes a wonderful foil for more colourful flowering plants and are outstanding when positioned next to white, purple or blue flowers.

Sowing: Sow in spring or in autumn.
Fill individual pots or trays with well drained seed compost. Moisten by standing the container in water, then drain. Sow the seeds thinly on the surface of the compost, pressing lightly into the compost to secure them. Do not cover the seeds, they will germinate in 14 days at 20°C (68°F).
Keep the compost moist by watering from the base of the container, never directly on top of the seeds. Once seedlings have their first true leaves, prick out and transplant to individual 7.5cm (3in) pots to grow on.
Gradually acclimatise to outdoor conditions for 10 to 15 days before planting out, 1 to 2 weeks after the last expected frosts. Space 25 to 38cm (10 to 15in) apart, seven to nine plants per square metre.

Cultivation:
Choose a position in full sun with a well-drained soil that is moist but not wet. The plants should be exposed to the sun half the day or more. They are not tolerant of full shade and high humidity or of continual damp which may cause stem rot. Add grit to the planting hole to help drainage. The plants will tolerate drought and do well in dry, infertile soils.
Requiring very little care other than a tidy up in spring, the tops of the stems can be pinched back to tidy the plant’s growth. If it begins to decline in summer, the foliage can also be cut back late in the season to promote new growth.
Cut back stems in autumn and apply a generous mulch of well-rotted garden compost or manure around the base of the plant. The plant reseeds itself so deadheading the fading flower heads will help prevent excessive new growth.

Cut and Dried Flowers:
Stems can be harvested from the mature plant any time before the flowers appear. For drying for later use, bundle the stems together and hang them to dry in a warm place away from direct sunlight.

Origin:
Artemisia stelleriana is native to East Asia, Japan, Korea and Siberia.
The plant has naturalised in some areas including near Marazion in Cornwall, Britain

Nomenclature:
The genus name artemisia ultimately derives from the Greek goddess Artemis (Roman Diana), the namesake of Greek Queens Artemisia I and II. A more specific reference may be to Artemisia II of Caria, a botanist and medical researcher who died in 350 BC. The genus includes over 400 plants, including the delectable herb tarragon.
Artemisia II of Caria, a botanist and medical researcher who died in 350 BC. She was the sister, the wife, (yes, that is correct) and the successor of Greek/Persian King Mausolus.Because of her grief for her brother-husband, and the extravagant and downright bizarre forms it took, she became to later ages "a lasting example of chaste widowhood and of the purest and rarest kind of love", in the words of Giovanni Boccaccio. In art she was usually shown in the process of consuming his ashes, mixed with drink. To perpetuate his memory she built at Halicarnassus the celebrated Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and whose name subsequently became the generic term for any splendid sepulchral monument, the word mausoleum.

The species name stelleriana derives from the Latin stella meaning 'star' because of the star-like shape of the foliage.
The variety Mori's Strain' (also called Morris's strain and 'Mori's Form') is also marketed as 'Boughton Silver'.
Similar in appearance to the annual Dusty Miller, but perfectly hardy. The two plants are often both called 'Dusty Miller'.
The plant is occasionally called Dusty Miller. It resembles the annual bedding plant Cineraria maritima, known as Dusty Miller.
Common names include Beach Wormwood, Beach Sage, Hoary Mugwort and Oldwoman.