Sweet Annie Artemisia transforms gardens into fragrant sanctuaries with its sweetly aromatic foliage that perfumes the air on summer breezes. Originally from China where it's called Qing-hao, this bushy annual herb reaches 60 inches tall and 20 inches wide in just 120 days, creating impressive displays of feathery, scented leaves. Known for its medicinal properties and beloved by crafters, this open-pollinated variety readily self-sows, ensuring your garden will be graced with its presence for years to come.
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1-11
72in H x 20in W
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This remarkable herb serves triple duty as medicine, craft material, and garden beauty. Traditional herbal medicine values its anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-malarial properties, while crafters treasure its stems for bouquets, wreaths, and swags that retain their sweet fragrance when dried. The aromatic foliage can be transformed into potpourri or burned as natural incense, filling spaces with its distinctive scent. Its generous self-seeding habit means one planting can establish a lasting presence in your garden.
Sweet Annie excels in dried arrangements, wreaths, and swags where its sweet fragrance persists long after harvest. Crafters burn the dried foliage as natural incense, while herbalists prepare it for traditional medicinal applications. The aromatic leaves make excellent additions to potpourri blends, and fresh stems bring natural fragrance to summer bouquets.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Start seeds indoors 5-6 weeks before the last frost date. Barely cover the tiny seeds with soil and maintain temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Use bottom watering or misting to prevent displacing the seeds, and transplant to cell packs when seedlings develop their second set of true leaves. Harden off thoroughly before transplanting outdoors.
Transplant hardened seedlings outdoors after all danger of frost has passed, spacing them 12 inches apart in rows 24 inches apart.
Direct sow seeds in late spring after frost danger passes. Barely cover seeds with soil and keep consistently moist using misting to avoid seed displacement. Broadcast seeding is not recommended due to the small seed size.
Harvest aromatic foliage throughout the growing season for fresh use, or wait until flower heads develop on stems at 120 days for the best dried material. Cut stems in the morning after dew evaporates for optimal fragrance retention in both fresh and dried preparations.
Allow the bushy growth habit to develop naturally, harvesting stems as needed throughout the season without formal pruning requirements.
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“Sweet Annie's journey from ancient Chinese medicine to modern gardens spans centuries of cultivation and cultural exchange. Known in its homeland as Qing-hao, this artemisia has been treasured in traditional Chinese herbal practice for generations before making its way to Western gardens. Today, it bridges the gap between ornamental gardening and functional herbalism, carrying forward its medicinal heritage while delighting contemporary gardeners with its aromatic presence and self-perpetuating nature.”