I've found the perfect succulent companion

I love succulents, obviously. But to create a garden, you need more than just aloes, agaves, cacti, etc. You need rocks as anchors, and you need companion plants to offset and complement your succulents. I have a variety of companion plants, including shrubs and flowering perennials, but one group ties everything together: groundcovers. There’s no formal definition of what a groundcover is, but to me it’s any low-growing plant, no more than five or six inches in height, that spreads horizontally to form a dense mat.

A couple of years ago, the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery, which grows plants both for the UC Davis Arboretum itself and for their popular seasonal plant sales (October 3, October 31, and November 14 this fall), introduced what ended up being the perfect groundcover and succulent companion plant for my garden: Artemisia pedemontana. I’ll give you more details later, but first look at how good it looks. 

In the backyard (sorry for bombarding you with so many photos):

And in the front:

Hot afternoon sun, some dieback

What is Artemisia pedemontana? It’s a low-growing, silver-leaved member of the daisy family (Asteraceae), valued more for its finely textured foliage and compact habit than for its (thankfully) inconspicuous flowers. It’s native to mountainous areas of northern Italy and the Balkans (the species name is a reference to the Piedmont region of Italy), and it’s well adapted to exposed, dry conditions.

Close-up of the foliage of Artemisia pedemontana

According to Google, Artemisia pedemontana is sometimes sold under the common name “silver spreader.” I’ve never come across any “silver spreader,” have you? In any case, it forms a low (2-4"), spreading mound of finely divided, woolly foliage. The dense covering of silvery hairs gives the plant a distinctly pale appearance and helps reflect sunlight and limit moisture loss. Depending on whether it’s in the sun or shade, the foliage appears more blue, green, or silver. It’s evergreen and produces small whitish-yellow flower heads in early summer. Denver Botanic Gardens lists it as hardy to USDA Zone 4 (tolerates frost and cold down to around 0°F).

The flowers are an annoyance (personal opinion) more than anything else, but they’re short-lived

Artemisia pedemontana is particularly attractive in rock gardens, alpine plantings, troughs, dry borders, and (I might add) succulent-centric beds where its soft silvery foliage can provide contrast with darker or spikier plants. Based on my experience, it grows equally well in full sun and mostly shade, and it gets by with minimal watering once established.

Artemisia pedemontana cuttings I propagated

All the mounds of Artemisia pedemontana you saw in the photos above came from two (!) 3-inch pots I bought at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery. Yes, you read that right. 

Artemisia pedemontana has proven to be easy to propagate for cuttings. I’ve been sharing it with friends for the last year, and I’m happy to announce that Kyle and I will have some available in our upcoming plant sale, tentatively set for October 31 in West Sacramento (location and more details to be announced soon). It appears we're the only local source for this fantastic ground cover since Artemisia pedemontana won't be offered in the fall plant sales at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery.

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