Variety of wormwood hybrid hung castle characteristics. Wormwood species, or what kind of wormwood is. Brief afterword: recapping the most important information

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The beauty of the silvery dissected leaves of wormwood has inspired flower growers to use some species of this plant in garden decoration.

Wormwood is one of the most common herbaceous plants, which has an extremely controversial reputation. Its wonderful healing properties have been known since antiquity. At the same time, wormwood is one of the most tenacious weeds.

General information

Wormwood - perennial (sometimes annual) herbaceous plant Astroflora family. The plant has a lignified branched root system, covered with a silvery fluff, straight stems and dissected leaves.

More than 400 species of wormwood are known, each of which has invaluable properties. Wormwood and wormwood used to prepare medicinal decoctions, extracts from wormwood are used in the perfume industry and in the production of absinthe and vermouth, wormwood spreading serves as food for pets. Some types of wormwood are good soil fixers. Wormwood tarragon , known as tarragon, or tarragon, gives dishes an incredible taste and magical aroma.

AT landscape design and for landscaping areas with poor sandy soil, tall and undersized types of decorative wormwood are used - Steller's Artemisia , wormwood schmidt , wormwood lactiflora , wormwood louis , wormwood mountain , sagebrush pontic , wormwood armenian , wormwood persian .

Wormwood Louis

A cultivated native of the prairies of North America, Wormwood Ludovica, or Ludovitsiana, is a perennial ornamental plant up to 80 cm high with a long rhizome, strong densely pubescent stems and silver-gray leaves. To form a compact bush from this species of wormwood, you should remove the inflorescences in a timely manner and pinch the shoots.

A wonderful decoration of the garden can be varieties of wormwood Louis - ValeriFinnig and SilverQueen. The first variety is a shrub with weakly branched stems and dissected leaves, greenish-gray on top and almost white on the inside.

The fast-growing member of Artemisia Silver Queen is characterized by more branched stems, densely covered with pubescent silver-gray leaves.

Wormwood Schmidt

Wormwood Schmidt is a perennial undersized densely pubescent shrub 15 to 30 cm high with strong stems and "lacy" silvery leaves. The plant is one of the most popular ornamental crops, which looks especially advantageous in combination with other flowers in a flower bed. One of the most common varieties of wormwood Schmidt - Nana. It is a small spherical shrub with silvery-green, pinnately dissected, filamentous leaves.

How to propagate wormwood

All types of decorative wormwood are easy to propagate cuttings, rhizome segments, dividing the bush. Propagation by cuttings is best done in late spring or early summer. To do this, cut at an angle the apical shoots up to 10 cm long, remove the lower leaves and plant them in containers with sand. transplant to permanent place possible in a year. If you manage to create ideal conditions for growing wormwood - find a well-lit area in the garden with light sandy soil - cuttings can be planted immediately in open ground.

In early autumn, you can start breeding by dividing the bush and segments of the rhizome. In both cases, the plant should be dug up, the rhizome divided into several parts and planted in new places.

Conditions for growing wormwood

Unpretentious and drought-resistant decorative sagebrush will feel great in light sandy soil in open, well-lit places, but will die in heavy soil with a high content of clay. In the spring, having chosen a suitable site, you should dig up the earth with compost and sand and immediately plant the plants.

So that the wormwood does not spread throughout the garden, it is recommended to limit its root system by dug into the ground to a depth of 20-30 cm curb tape, or grow it in flowerpots and containers.

As a result of excessive glaze wormwood can lose its pubescence and with it lose its decorative effect. Therefore, the plant should be watered only during periods of prolonged drought, it is not necessary to spray from above.

In a rainy summer, sagebrush can strike powdery mildew , which is easy enough to deal with by treating the plant with a fungicide. During the flowering period, it is better to remove the inflorescences so that ovaries do not form and the seeds do not scatter throughout the garden.

Use in garden design

Application area decorative species wormwood in landscape design and in the design of flower beds is extremely diverse. A plant with beautiful silvery leaves creates picturesque color compositions, at the same time scaring away harmful insects pungent bitter aroma.

undersized species used to decorate curbs, alpine slides, rockeries. Wormwood Louis Silver Queen goes well with Thunberg barberry, Steller's wormwood - with low bells, sage, carnation-grass. Tall species give a special charm to flower beds, rose gardens, mixborders.

Today we will talk about such a plant as wormwood. Its silvery, carved leaves have inspired many gardeners to use it in landscape design. Very often it is used as an ornamental plant and decorate garden beds with it.

Wormwood is a common plant with a controversial reputation. This is one of the most tenacious weeds, which is almost impossible to remove without the use of special means and drugs. At the same time, it has long been proven medicinal properties wormwood. It has been treated since ancient times.

General information and some types

The wormwood plant is a herbaceous perennial from the Astroflower family. The plant has branched roots, which are covered with a silvery down. It has straight stems, on which are densely dissected leaves.

There are more than four hundred types of wormwood in the world, and each of them has invaluable properties. Wormwood and bitter wormwood are used for medicinal decoctions and infusions, bitter wormwood extract is very often used in perfumery and even in the production of such alcoholic drink like absinthe and vermouth. Spreading wormwood is fed to domestic animals. Many species serve as excellent soil fixers. Tarragon wormwood, better known as tarragon or tarragon, gives dishes an unusual aroma and magical taste.

It is also very common to use wormwood in landscape design. For poor sandy soil, these types of wormwood are perfect:

Wormwood Louis

This is cultivated plant originally from Seventh America. Ludoviciana, as it is also called, is a perennial. This ornamental plant reaches a height of 80 centimeters and has a very developed and long root system. Its stems are densely pubescent and very strong, they are silvery leaves. In order to form a compact bush of wormwood Louis, you need to regularly pinch new shoots and remove inflorescences.

Any garden will be decorated with varieties of wormwood Louis:

• Valeri Finnig. It is a shrub with dissected leaves and unbrown stems. The leaf is greenish gray on the outside and white on the inside.
• Silver queen. This bush is more branched and densely pubescent with foliage.

Wormwood Schmidt

This is a perennial, which is quite densely pubescent with lacy leaves silver color. Plant height can reach 15-30 centimeters. This is a very popular type of wormwood that looks great in a landscape ensemble with other plants and flowers. The most popular variety of Schmidt's wormwood is Nana. A compact bush in the form of a ball with filiform dissected leaves has a simply stunning appearance.

Steller's Wormwood

This plant is very popular due to its beautiful openwork leaves. They give the plant an extraordinary beauty. Silver-colored leaves remain decorative throughout the season, grow back in spring and at the same time exude a specific pleasant aroma.

Although the plant blooms and it happens in mid-July, its flowers are not of particular value for appearance bush. Flowers are generally recommended to be removed., as they cover the plant itself. Leaves, very similar to deer antlers, seem to creep along the soil, and such a miniature and very neat plant looks just amazing in any garden.

This variety goes very well with bright colors- phlox, herbal cloves and yarrow.

reproduction

Any kind of wormwood reproduces very well by cuttings, with the help of segments of the root system, as well as when dividing the bush.

If the first breeding option is chosen, then this should be done either in late spring or early summer. It is necessary to cut the apical shoots up to ten centimeters. This should be done at an angle, and then the cut shoots should be cleaned of the lower leaves and lowered into a container with sand. The bush is transplanted to a permanent place in open ground, a year later. If the gardener can find a place for a bush that will meet all necessary conditions, then in this case, the plant can be planted immediately in open ground in a permanent place. At the same time, it should be very well lit and the soil should be sandy and light. In such conditions, the cuttings perfectly adapt and take root.

The division of the bush is usually carried out in the fall. Yes, and the method of propagation by segments of the root system is best done during this period. . In both cases, you need to dig a bush, divide the root system into several parts and transplant them to new permanent places.

Rules for growing in your garden

Decorative wormwood is considered a rather unpretentious plant and feels fine in light soils in well-lit places. However, she will die very quickly. clay soil. In the spring, you need to choose a place for planting, carefully dig it up and mix the soil with compost or other organic matter and sand. Immediately after this, you can plant the plant.

In order for the bush not to grow in the garden like a weed, it is necessary to limit the development of its rhizome. To do this, when landing in the ground, it is necessary to dig 30 centimeters of curb tape. Another option is to grow the plant in separate containers or pots.

If you overdo it with watering, then you can influence the abundance of pubescence, and then the plant will lose its decorative effect. That is why it is necessary to water it only during a long drought, it is not worth spraying the foliage with water at all.

The plant may be subject to a disease called "powdery mildew". This usually occurs during prolonged rainy weather. With the disease will help to cope with a special drug - a fungicide.

During the flowering period of the bush, it is imperative to remove all inflorescences, because the formation of ovaries will lead to the dispersion of seeds throughout the area.

Use in garden landscaping

It is widely used in landscape design and decoration of park and garden beds. The silver bush creates a very beautiful composition in the neighborhood with other garden inhabitants, while its aroma successfully repels all kinds of flower pests. Such a plant on the site will bring not only aesthetic pleasure to the grower, but will also be incredibly useful.

Low-growing varieties of the plant are usually used in the design of alpine slides and borders. The Ludovica variety goes well with low bluebells, barberry, cloves or sage. High grades perfectly coexist with roses.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say that growing this ornamental plant on your site will not take much time and effort from the grower. It does not require special attention and care, but it will perfectly fit into any garden composition and, perhaps, even become its main decoration.

In modern gardens, plants with silvery foliage are gaining popularity more and more, in connection with which perennials such as sagebrush, previously unnoticed, enter the arena. Until now, only folk healers were engaged in intentional cultivation of wormwood, and summer residents, without hesitation, uprooted it like a weed. The reason for close attention to a simple perennial was the previously bred decorative varieties, which gave garden designers new opportunities. So I propose to re-acquaint yourself with the wormwood closer, but already within the framework of the landscape of the garden.

In botany, wormwood is called Artemisia, which in Latin is very similar to the word "healthy". After all, the healing properties of wormwood have found recognition not only among folk healers, but also in official medicine. In addition, this Latin name is also associated with the name of the ancient Greek goddess Artemis, who was always slender, young and full of strength. Wormwood is also very hardy, growing in beautiful straight bushes.

For many, it may come as a surprise that Artemísia, as a genus of herbaceous or semi-shrub plants, belongs to the Asteraceae family. For the most part, this perennials with a powerful root system, but there are also annual species. In its natural environment, wormwood is very common in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, where it conquered the steppes and deserts. Yes, many different types this plant grows in Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Ukraine. Wormwood also lives in the rocky steppes of North America, South and North Africa. Therefore, this plant can be considered drought-resistant and frost-resistant, which allows it to be grown on poor windswept soils with a scorching sun. In a word, wormwood is steppe plant, and the growing conditions he needs are appropriate.

Straight strong stems of wormwood grow from 20 to 150 cm tall, they are covered with light silvery hairs, like frost. The upper leaves are small, and the lower the stem, the larger and carved leaves. The color of the leaves varies from rich green to gray-silver. Extremely small flowers grow in the form of a basket from 1 to 10 mm in diameter. Yellow or slightly reddish inflorescences take the form of a brush, spikelet or panicle. Due to the fact that the emphasis in the plant is not on the flowers, but on the leaves, some gardeners prefer to cut off the inflorescences.

Types and varieties of wormwood

Of the 400 different types of wormwood in horticulture today, no more than ten are used. We will highlight the most popular ones.

- a species that grows on rocks, dunes and in estuaries, is a sprawling bush. Grows 30-40 cm tall. Likes sandy soils. Silvery, almost white leaves are shaped like wide plates, and in general they resemble vintage lace.

It is usually planted on retaining walls and rocky hills, in a gravel garden. In company with her, you can plant cloves, creeping gypsophila, clary sage, stonecrops.

One of the most popular varieties of this kind is Maurice Form, whose foliage has a metallic sheen.

Steller's Wormwood Moris Form

Steller's Artemisia

Wormwood Schmidt- these are small snow-silvery bushes native to Far East. They are ideal for curbs, edges, cushioned rock slide mats. The foliage suffers greatly from snowy winters, but regrows quickly due to the plant's deep rhizome.

The following varieties are popular:

● Nana- bushes 20-25 cm, leaves are narrow and thick.
● Powus Castle- reaches 30–40 cm in height, openwork leaves, densely arranged.

wormwood Schmidt Nana

Wormwood Louisiana- a representative of American species of wormwood, which belong to tall plants, on average, the height reaches 1 m. Flowers and fruits are unsightly, but everything else forms beautiful thickets that can serve as an excellent background for a flower arrangement. This type of wormwood can freeze slightly in winter, so it requires shelter.

Known varieties of this species:

● Silver Quee- branched plants 70 cm high. Light gray leaves create loose thickets.
● Valeri Finnig- a variety of wormwood, the leaves of which are gray-green on one side and almost white on the other due to dense pubescence. In shape, they are very peculiar - with dissected tops and sharp teeth.

Wormwood- a view that justifies the name. It has a very pronounced bitter aroma, especially when dry and hot weather. It grows as a semi-shrub 50–150 cm tall. The leaves are large pinnately dissected, have a greenish tint. From ornamental varieties allocate Lambrook Silver, which grows up to 75 cm tall and has deeply dissected leaves.

Agricultural technology

Place and soil. Wormwood should be planted in sunny areas, given that this plant grows well on poor, dry soils characteristic of wastelands. Favorable for her will be sandy drained.

Watering. Wormwood is drought resistant, but excess moisture, especially in cool weather, can be detrimental to the plant.

Pruning. In order for the bushes to be compact and keep the desired shape, they should be cut and rejuvenated annually, especially since they tolerate this business perfectly. In low-growing varieties, in order to emphasize the decorativeness of their leaves, it is recommended to cut off the flower stalks.

Reproduction. Wormwood takes root well if it is propagated by dividing the bush, segments of the roots. If reproduction by seeds is supposed, then they need to be sown in a greenhouse in April. You can cut cuttings from May to July. To do this, cut off the shoots of 7-10 cm and strengthen them in sandy soils. Cuttings are not required special care, they need to be watered in the same way as adult plants. By next year, they can already be transplanted to a permanent place.

How to "silver" a garden?

The main rule when planting wormwood in the garden is to place plants in groups, so they look more impressive than in single plantings.

Low-growing varieties can be planted in the foreground as a border, or fill in the free gaps between plants, planted on alpine slide. Areas where bright flowers stand out against the background of wormwood look especially noble and elegant.

All sorts of varieties will serve as good partners for these plants - wormwood gives them a new sound. You can also create fragrant garden, if planted next to the wormwood plants such as narrow-leaved lavender, thyme.

You can create a fragrant garden if you plant plants such as narrow-leaved lavender, sage, thyme near the wormwood.

Wormwood contains a huge range of specific substances, namely: absitin, tannins, malic, succinic and ascorbic acids, phytoncides, essential oil. Therefore, wormwood has a well-recognized characteristic bitter aroma. It can be used as a repellent against harmful insects, as well as to interrupt the smell of cesspools and latrines. For this reason, the close proximity of wormwood to vegetable crops is undesirable.

The close proximity of wormwood to vegetable crops is undesirable.

The genus of wormwood or artemisia (Artemisia) from the Compositae family has about 300 species of herbaceous and semi-shrub plants growing in wild nature throughout Europe and much of Asia and North Africa.

The value of decorative sagebrush for the garden lies in its unusual silver-gray foliage. The leaves of the plant are covered with thick silky hairs, inconspicuous yellow or white flowers appear in July-August.

There is a legend in Europe that the spicy smell of wormwood planted near the house can drive away evil spirits. We don’t know about perfume, but the culture perfectly repels mosquitoes on the site.

Several representatives of the genus are used as an ornamental plant in landscape design.

Wormwood Schmidt (Artemisia schmidtii), namely her ground cover variety'Nana', also known as 'Silver Mound', is 10-25 cm high. The plant forms dense, silver-green clumps with feathery foliage. It lends itself perfectly to pruning, thanks to which you can form compact lush pillows. In winter, it can freeze slightly, but quickly recovers. Spectacular hybrid of this species "Hang Castle" about 35 cm high with openwork pinnately dissected foliage.

Steller's Wormwood (Artemisia stelleri) and its varietal forms "Mori" s Form "and" Boughton Silver "with silver-white openwork leaves. The height of the varieties is about 30-40 cm.

Wormwood Louis (Artemisia ludoviciana). Its height is 50-80 cm. Narrow leaves are bluish or silvery in color. Known varietal forms "Valeri Finning", "Silver Queen", "Silver King".

Wormwood Pursha (Artemisia purshiana). Herbaceous semi-shrub plant with a branched stem 60-70 cm tall and elongated-oval white-gray leaves. Regular pinching of the top during the growing season allows you to form a beautiful lush bush.

Culture is completely undemanding to care. Wormwood in the garden grows well in full sun. It likes poor, well-drained soils; in fertile soil it loses its compact shape. Like most silver gray hardwoods, Artemisia is very drought tolerant and does not tolerate stagnant water, which causes the plant to die. However, immediately after planting for rooting, it requires regular moderate watering for 2-3 weeks.

Since the culture grows well in poor soils, it does not need top dressing at all. Throughout the season, care for sagebrush in the garden consists of weeding and pruning shoots in autumn or spring at high species. Low varieties, forming curtains, over time, begin to die off in the center, so every 2-3 years they need to be rejuvenated by division. The procedure is carried out in the spring.

The plant propagates mainly by dividing the bushes, root or stem cuttings, but the first method is the simplest and most effective.
Artemisia can be susceptible to fungal diseases such as powdery mildew, mold, and white rust. high humidity and poor air circulation exacerbates these problems.

Application in landscape design

In the garden, wormwood looks advantageous in composition with elegant, blue, lofant, bright carnation grass, sunny, echinacea, variegated varieties of dwarf barberry, euonymus,

Name: wormwood (Artemisia) has always been highly valued for its special tart, intoxicating aroma. Known since ancient times wormwood(Artemisia absinthium).

Artemisia atrata
Photo of Voronina Svetlana

Even the ancient Greek philosopher Xenophanes wrote that the valleys of the Euphrates are filled with the fragrance of wormwood, and shepherds often use it as an intoxicating, intoxicating remedy. And in our time, an infusion of wormwood, or absinthe, is part of many drinks, in particular vermouth. And the very name "Wermut" just means wormwood. But much more often they used wormwood as a medicine. In this regard, several variants of the origin of the name of this plant appeared. More often than others, there is a mention of the name of Queen Artemisia, the wife of Mausolus, who specially collected and cultivated herbs with healing properties. The name of the Greek goddess of hunting and fertility, Artemis, could also serve as a derivative for the name of this plant, since with the help of wormwood(Artemisia vulgaris) treated women's diseases. And, maybe everything is much more prosaic, and the name of the genus comes from Greek word artemes, which can be translated as: only what is good for health. In any case, the virtues of wormwood have been known since ancient times and they were widely used.

Description: the genus includes more than 400 species distributed in Europe, Asia , Africa and North America.

Plants are perennial, rarely annual or biennial, herbaceous or semi-shrub. The leaves are arranged in the next order, deeply dissected, rarely whole. Inflorescences - baskets, very small, collected in turn in racemose, paniculate or capitate inflorescences. Marginal flowers with a narrow, filiform corolla, white, yellow or pink; middle - tubular, yellow or pink. The fruit is a seed. In 1 g up to 30,000 seeds.

The beauty of the openwork foliage of wormwood, which includes various shades, is unusual and exquisite. gray color- from almost silver-white, steel and silver-blue to grayish-green. Experienced gardeners decorated flower beds with various wormwood as early as the 16th-19th centuries. Depending on the type of wormwood, they can be from 20 cm to 1.5 m high, some lend themselves well to shearing. Plants are decorative throughout the season. In flower beds, they are very unpretentious, drought- and frost-resistant, which allows them to be used in dry areas that are very warm in summer and freezing in winter.

Undersized species:

Steller's Wormwood- Artemisia stellerana Bess. It grows on the rocks of the sea coasts of the Far East, Japan, Alaska, Norway. In addition, it is widely settled in North America. Occurs in estuaries, on dunes, climbs coastal cliffs. Perennial with more or less spreading shoots, 20-30 cm long, with beautiful, split, silvery-gray leaves. During flowering, the stems reach 40-50 cm in length. Baskets are small, yellowish, in loose inflorescences, appear from mid-summer to autumn. Peduncles are best cut before flowering, otherwise they will close the leaves - the main decoration of this wormwood. In GBS since 1955 (from Primorye), blooms profusely in August, seeds appear in November (not annually). Easily propagated by seeds. Violin (1960) recommends trimming stems to prevent flowering. Known in culture since 1865 (Poletiko, Mishenkovag 1967), brought to Europe from North America (Pagey, 1932; Ishiyama, 1936; Bailey, 1947; Dictionary of Gardening, 1956; Wyman, 1971). Zolotarev (1896) notes its winter hardiness and recommends it as a border plant. Variety imported from Japan Maurice Form"("MorisForm"), known as " Bugton Silver"("Boughton Silver") 30 cm high, characterized by almost white, showy leaves and creeping shoots. This plant creates the effect that its leaves are carved from white felt. To maintain a compact form, pruning and annual rejuvenation by hilling or dividing are recommended. Winter-hardy, but freezes in snowless winters. Good for planting on rocky hills and retaining walls, an excellent ground cover for a gravel garden. Steller's wormwood goes well with carnation-grass, gray fescue, creeping gypsophila, clary sage and various types stonecrop. Photo on the left EDSR. Photo on the right of Nadezhda Dmitrieva

Wormwood Messerschmidt - Artemisia messerschmidtiana Bess. Siberia, Far East, Mongolia. Slopes with bushy meadow-steppe vegetation, edges. Semi-shrub, 60-80 cm tall. The perennial part of the stem is brown with peeling bark in longitudinal brown stripes. Annual shoots are green-violet, slightly ribbed, with sparse crumpled hairs. The leaves are gray from a continuous felt of matted hairs, 5-7 cm long. (including petiole 1-2 cm long.), doubly pinnatisected. The terminal lobules are lanceolate, entire or with several denticles. All segments at an acute angle are directed to the top of the sheet. At the base of the petiole are simple or dissected ears. Large primary leaf lobes 4-5. In the intervals between the second and subsequent primary lobes, small simple lobules are located along the main axis of the leaf. The inflorescence is paniculate, consisting of separate brushes of baskets. Baskets 4-5 mm in diameter, rounded, drooping, located on relatively short pubescent peduncles. The involucral leaves are pubescent with long hairs. The outer leaves are green, oblong-triangular. The middle ones are ovoid, the inner ones are broadly ovate, almost round, membranous with dark brown stripes. Receptacle convex, glabrous or hairy. Hair breaks off easily. Outer flowers in a basket are pistillate, including 17-19 pieces. Disc flowers are bisexual, 65-70 in number. Hemicarps obovate about 1.5 mm long. Photo by Vyacheslav Petukhin from the site "Nature of Baikal"

Wormwood lactiflora- A. lactiflora wall. Homeland - Western China. Perennial herbaceous plant up to 100 cm tall with reddish-brown stems and lacy dark green glossy leaves. Flower baskets are small, white, collected in dense racemose inflorescences. Blooms in August. Prefers moist peaty soils and a sunny position. Looks great in flower beds landscape style and in the background of the mixborder, along with beautifully flowering perennials. In culture since 1828. Photo on the left EDSR. photo on the right Rozantseva Tatiana

Wormwood "Zhanlim"- Artemisia vulgaris "Janlim" ("Oriental Limelight") Frost-resistant perennial. Zone: 4-9. Correct name this variety "Janlim", but trading companies distribute it under the brand name "Oriental Limelight". The variety is notable for its yellow-green, beautifully dissected leaves. AT young age the leaves cover the spots almost completely, and on more mature green background becomes more noticeable. Coloring remains until late autumn. The growth pattern is upright. The leaves release fragrance when rubbed. Tiny white flowers that appear at the ends of the stems in summer have no decorative value. Grows best on poor or moderate fertile soils in moderately moist to dry soils in full sun. Good drainage is a must. From dampness, the plant rots. On excessively fertile soils and in the shade and partial shade, the stems lie down. This variety is less aggressive than the original species. If the leafiness of the stems decreases, the plants can be trimmed and they will grow again. The colorful yellow-green foliage contrasts well with other plants in herb gardens and borders. An indispensable plant for areas with poor and dry soils. Photo by Anna Petrovicheva

Wormwood annual - A. annua L. Homeland - the south of the European part of Russia, Crimea, Transcaucasia, the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, China, Japan. An annual herbaceous plant that forms pyramidal bushes up to 150 cm tall. The leaves are finely dissected, dark green, fragrant when rubbed. The flowers are inconspicuous, have no decorative value. Good for haircut. In culture since 1741. If you sow seeds with an interval of 50 cm, you will get dense thickets that resemble a hedge of coniferous shrubs. The showy pale green foliage makes a great natural backdrop for the vibrant blooms of the annuals. Photograph by Kirill Tkachenko

Wormwood pontic- A. pontica L. Distributed throughout Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia and Central Asia. It settles in dry areas in the forest-steppe and steppe zones. Wormwood Pontic has a creeping rhizome, the stems are thin, strong, up to 1 m long, densely leafy. The leaves are oval, twice or thrice pinnately dissected, all stem, the lower ones with a petiole, the rest are sessile, gray-green above, and almost white below, felty. Baskets are almost spherical, small, drooping, in a narrow paniculate inflorescence, painted whitish-yellow. Blooms in August 30-35 days. Fruiting. In culture since the 16th century. Winters without shelter. Good for molding. In GBS, Moscow, the seeds were collected in 1948 in Krasnodar Territory, on the slope of the railway Vegetates from IV to X. Blossoms in IX. The seeds do not ripen. Vye. 70 cm. Flowering is annual and plentiful. Reproduction is vegetative. Decorative, spicy.

Wormwood rutolistnaya - Artemisia rutifolia Steph. ex Spreng. = A. turczaninoviana Bess. Homeland - regions of Siberia and the Far East, Central and Central Asia. Mountain steppes, rocky slopes, talus. Semi-shrub 20-80 cm tall. Lignified perennial stems are highly branched and covered with brownish-gray cracked bark, together with annual shoots form a rounded bush. Annual shoots are greyish-silky with pressed hairs. Petiole leaves without lobules at the base of the petiole, pubescent on both sides. The plate is round or reniform, 0.6-2 cm long. and 0.8-3 cm wide. twice pinnately or twice ternarily dissected into 3-5 lobes. The latter, in turn, are triply or pinnatifid. Terminal lobules linearly oblong, 2-15 mm long. and 0.5-1.5 mm wide. Baskets hemispherical 3.5-5 mm in diameter. rejected or drooping in a racemose or paniculate inflorescence. Involucral leaflets are hairy, outer ones are oblong. Receptacle glabrous or with hairs. Marginal flowers are pistillate, there are 5-15 of them, median flowers are bisexual, including 12-28. Achenes oblong-prismatic, angular-ribbed. Photo Ovchinnikov Yury

Artemisia lactiflora "Guizho"
Photo by Andrey Ganov

Location and soil: undemanding to the soil, extremely drought-resistant and winter-hardy. The main condition for success for silver-leaved species is poor, well-drained, neutral soils and a sunny location. Species with green foliage will suit more fertile and moist soils, light shading is possible. At high soil moisture, in culture, at frequent watering, sagebrushes may lose their wonderful pubescence, become greener and lose their attractiveness.

When planting, it is a good idea to add sand to the planting hole so that the soil is looser. Peat, especially acidic, is better not to use for this, after all, most types of wormwood grow in semi-deserts and deserts, and some species simply on carbonate soils.

For successful wintering, polynyas, especially undersized ones, need good drainage. Wormwood is unpretentious, grows well and develops on poor, but loose soils. Low-growing species can be planted on the southern exposures of hills, on terraces and retaining walls, in crevices between stones.

Artemisia arborescense
Photo by Marina Shimanskaya

Care: watering is very rare only in extreme heat. The rapid growth of bushes of some species requires regular pruning of rhizomes.or planting in containers. Flowering of wormwood can hardly be called decorative. In some cases, it is even recommended to remove numerous flower stalks that cover the entire plant. This is more often the case for undersized species. Flowering of tall species does not cause negative emotions

Reproduction: seeds, perennial species by dividing the bush and segments of rhizomes, and semi-shrub species - also cuttings. Seeds are sown in a semi-warm greenhouse in April. Seedlings dive into 7-9 cm pots of 1-3 pieces.

Artemisia are well cut from May to the end of July. The main thing is that the roots form before the cold weather. Both young and mature shoots, 7-10 cm high, are used for cuttings. Moreover, all parts of the stem are used. They are rooted in beds with loose sandy soil, and only the next year the cuttings are planted in a permanent place. Cuttings do not need shading or frequent watering.

Usage: most species are used as decorative foliage in mixed landings, dry bouquets, Steller's wormwood - mainly in borders.

Artemisia palmeri
Photo by Marina Shimanskaya

In ornamental gardening, sagebrush is used mainly because of the silvery carved leaves, which, in combination with blue, purple and white flowers, give airiness to the composition. These plants are decorative throughout the summer. Tall species are planted in flower beds to mitigate sharp, bright colors, which simply do not fit without gray. For this, long-rhizomatous species can be used, since they do not form dense thickets, but freely germinate between other plants without oppressing them.

Artemisia respond well to a haircut, so compositions of various heights can be formed from them. Wormwood goes well with many plants. You just need to choose the right combinations.

Wormwood can grow in one place for many years. But long-rhizomatous or rhizomatous sprout species "crawl" to a neighboring place. This must be taken into account when including polynyas in flower beds. Therefore, compositions without clear boundaries are more suitable for them.

Artemesia maritima "Sea Wormwood"
Photograph by Kirill Tkachenko

Wormwood can serve as an excellent background for almost any sun-loving plants. A blue fountain of perennial flax soaring up from a group of p tarragon(A. stolonifera), ceases to look rustic and becomes aristocratic and refined. Ordinary asters, translucent through wormwood louis(A. ludoviciana), seem mysterious, especially in light twilight. And it can be the center of the composition. And silver lace Artemisia Schmidt(A. schmidtiana), planted in the form of wings on the edge of the lawn or along the path, will not leave anyone indifferent. Schmidt's dwarf wormwood, surrounded by stonecrops or juveniles, will decorate a low flower garden. She looks great in rock gardens against the background of stones. If the slide is small, you can plant a tiny wormwood caucasian(A. caucasica), and if large, then creeping Steller's Artemisia(A. stelleriana). In the mixborder wormwood Pursha(A. pursha). If you are not too lazy and pinch the growth point at the desired height (while leaving 3-5-7 shoots and removing the rest), it will form funny spherical “bouquets” from the side shoots in a fairly short time. On the large area gorgeous wormwood medicinal(A. abrotanum), or god tree. Using a pinch, it is very easy to form graceful curly "trees" up to 1.5 m tall from this shrub.

Partners: Perfectly combined with roses of various shades from white to red. Combinations of wormwood with red-leaved or golden forms of plants are interesting: Thunberg's barberry, purple leafy bergenia, small-flowered "Palace Purple", etc. Ornamental cereals are very appropriate in these plantings.

Artemisia umbelliformis (Artemisia laxa) Photo EDSR.	Artemisia schmidtiana "Silver Mound" Photo EDSR.	Artemisia grossgeimii Photo by Olga Bondareva
Artemisia frigida Photo Kravchenko Kirill	Artemisia hololeuca Photo Kravchenko Kirill	Artemisia sericea Photo Kravchenko Kirill