I don't have any experience, but she is a lovely plant! What will you pair her with?

Well, that's the issue, if I plant her she may pair with everything I have. I don't know that that's a bad thing, so I'm asking.

They would be lovely to me with orange cosmos. Might be too wet in your locale for cosmos through. The artemisia likes drier soils too, right? Any bold colored taller plant that matches it's moisture requirements would look great. If it grows too vigorously, you'd have lots to share :-)

Several years ago I saw one of the varieties of artemisia planted with a tall blue/purple salvia at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. It was so beautiful I took a photo. I can't seem to post a photo directly from Photobucket like I used to so click here: Photobucket picture

I thought I'd try to do something similar and dug up some artemisia that had survived in a vacant lot after the house had been removed. After a couple of years I became alarmed at how much and fast it had spread so pulled it out. I removed root sprouts for quite some time. Maybe Valerie finnis doesn't spread as much. Give it a try. You can always remove it.

Or perhaps someone can recommend a variety that tends not to spread. The silvery color looks so good with other plants.

I have 'Powis Castle ' and while it gets large it does not seem to be a thug. I love your picture thank you, and that does sort of look like Valerie. I guess I'll give her a try.

I tried growing VF and it didn't make it. Don't know if the Houston heat was too much or insufficient water. I love artemissias, Powis Castle, Colchester White, silver Mound, Silver Brocade. not thugs, just big, and resent overwatering.

I have grown VF artemisia for 20 years in 2 different places. First in a very fertile amended clay and then in a calcarious marly soil that I added a bunch of compost and granite sand. It loved it but was not as fast spreading as the wild variety. It did spread but slowly. It is beautiful. When grown on the clay, it never grew large and staid in its bed. It much preferred the limestone calcarious mix. I would not use it in a mixed border. It has now spread over a 6' area.