The Low-Maintenance Silvery Ground Cover That Thrives In Sunny Landscapes

Do you want to add a little depth and diversity to your sunny landscape? Artemisia schmidtiana 'Silver Mound' is a pretty prostrate form of wormwood with feathery silver foliage that will allow you to do just that. Commonly known as silver mound Artemisia, this delightful low-maintenance ground cover can be grown in USDA hardiness zones 3 through 7. It's perfect as a border or edging plant for your flower beds or to add a bit of sparkle to your rock garden. The lovely, fine, silky texture of the leaves just invites you to brush your hands over it, where you'll be rewarded with a strong camphor-like fragrance.

In a flower garden, 'Silver Mound' blends beautifully with cool floral colors such as lavender, pink, purple, and blue. It can provide an interesting contrast to red or maroon-colored blooms as well. This cultivar is one of the few wormwoods that is not regarded as invasive. It's primarily grown for its attractive foliage, as the flowers are small and insignificant and may not even be present at all. While you should be aware that the plants in this genus have differing levels of toxicity to both humans and pets, you might want to grow another member of this aromatic herb family to send wasps buzzing away from your yard – Artemisia absinthium contains a compound known as absinthe which seems to be repulsive to these insects — but don't forget that this particular species is regarded as a noxious weed in the Midwest.

As 'Silver Mound' is low-maintenance, you'll want to grow it en masse as a border plant to get the full value from the soft silvery foliage. Using plants such as this with leaf color variations is one low-maintenance way to create an eye-catching front lawn without grass. 'Silver Mound', a herbaceous perennial, thrives in full sun and prefers infertile soils, especially if you just want it to do its own thing without too much interference. If the soil is too rich, the plant may respond with excessive growth, and you'll have to clip back before the middle of summer. The reason is that this mound-forming perennial has a tendency to open up in the center, revealing a bare patch of stems. Shearing the growth back by about half should prevent this from happening.

Knowing this should make it quite evident that 'Silver Mound' doesn't need to be fertilized at all and seems to thrive on neglect. It's also quite heat- and drought-tolerant, so it's ideal to let the soil dry out before watering. 'Silver Mound' doesn't like too much humidity either, as this could lead to fungal diseases like stem rot. As a bonus, you'll find that a cousin of this species, Artemisia dracunculus, commonly known as tarragon, is one of many delicious herbs you can easily propagate from cuttings.