Artemisia 'POWIS CASTLE'

Artemisia has several names, none of which sounds very attractive: mugwort, sagebrush or even wormwood. Now choose one. It is a large genus of predominantly evergreen (but also deciduous) shrubs, perennials, and annuals from the Northern Hemisphere, with several species from the Mediterranean, North Africa, and South America. These are plants resistant to heat, drought, poor soils, salt spray, and even fire to a certain extent. They are cultivated mainly for highly attractive, silvery foliage that is often finely lobed or delicately dissected. The leaves are evergreen and contain fragrant oils, whose aroma is very strong and unattractive to not only humans - thanks to their fragrance wormwood has almost no pests. One wormwood species is used for production of an alcoholic drink - a. absinthium, I suppose you will never guess which one …

Powis Castle is an English variety of wormwood that is also called Brass Band. It is most likely a spontaneous hybrid between the species a. arborescens and a. absinthium from the Middle East where wormwoods willingly hybridize among themselves. One plant was found growing in a garden in Yorkshire by British gardener Jim Hancock in 1968, he took a cutting and began growing it in the gardens of Powis Castle, where in 1972 he became a chief gardener. He named it after the castle, propagated it, and introduced it to public on behalf of the National Monuments Institute at Powis Castle in Wales in 1972.

It is an evergreen, semi-woody perennial with beautiful, deeply dissected, lace-like, light blue green to silvery leaves which contrast perfectly with any other greenery in the perennial beds. In late summer appear small yellow flowers which are best removed leaving only the leaves stand out. It grows slowly and forms fluffy, dense clumps or subshrubs of a variable size between 40 and 80 cm (both tall and wide). The variety was awarded AGM by the British Royal Horticultural Society, and a renowned perennial expert Allan Armitage (* 1946), a professor at the University of Georgia in the USA, considers it one of the finest perennials ever.

It is used in prairie landscapes with grasses, coneflowers, sea hollies and similar plants. It is also popular in casual perennial beds where it helps separate plants of similar colour. In my opinion, it looks magnificent in xeriscape along with choisya, yucca, aromatic perennial herbs (savory, rosemary, thyme), etc., and being evergreen it is well suited as a differently colored, softening accent in evergreen borders with leathery leaves.

Semi-woody wormwood requires sunny places and light, free-draining soil - it will most likely die in wet ground or heavy clay. Stay away from fertilizing as it may become short-lived. It performs better in poor soils. Regular pruning is not needed but older plants benefit from a careful rejuvenating. Under good conditions it hardy to at least -24 °C (USDA zone 6).

Last update 24-11-2021