Wormwood

Wormwood (Artemisia) - Herbs and low bushes covering a large part of the surface of northern and arid regions. Though often poor weeds, some have a use in gardens, though rarely for their flowers. A. anethifolia is one of the most elegant herbaceous perennials, 5 feet in height. A. annua is a graceful plant with tall stems 5 or 6 feet high, the foliage fine, and the flowers not showy in elegant panicles. The hue is a fresh and pleasing green, and the plant is a graceful centre of a flower-bed or group. Other kinds, like A. alpina and A. frigida, belong to an alpine group, which is at home in the rock garden, while there are many taller herbaceous and half-woody plants of a silvery hue, such as A. Stelleriana, A. cana, A. maritima, and some with handsome Fern-like foliage, as A. tanacetifolia. A. lactiflora, from China, has stately Spiraea-like plumes of creamy flowers, 6 feet high. It is valuable for grouping.