Mugwort

Mugwort..... This plant should be illegal to sell! It is easily the MOST invasive plant on the planet! A bird must have dropped a seed, o...Read Morer a piece of this plant must have come in a load of mulch I had delivered... I never planted it, did not recognize it, but left this SINGLE stalk alone in my huge perennial garden for one season to see if it would flower. (I've got columbine that appeared in my garden out go nowhere this way) well... This single plant grew over spring and summer and went dormant over fall and winter, only to appear EVERYWHERE in the spring! Thousands of plants on complicated runner highways underground took over my garden. Yes, I pulled and pulled and pulled. I hired a landscaping company to pull it also. We sprayed it, burned it, and covered it with thick black tarps. Yes, it returned over and over again. I finally hired a company to come in and dig out my entire perennial garden with a backhoe! I now have a huge raised garden in its place, and I had to begin my 30+ years garden all over again!
Mugwort is an herb and if you think mint is invasive, you haven't seen anything!
NEVER plant this in your yard! There also is no substantial flowers to speak of. I can't imagine why anyone would want this in there garden!

This is a somewhat common plant, native to western North America. Its native range is often associated with Toxicodendron diversilobum o...Read Morer Poison Oak, and anywhere with enough moisture for vigorous Poison Oak growth has enough moisture for Mugwort to grow. In California, it thrives in riparian habitat and some coastal communities. I've seen man-high stands of Mugwort up in Santa Barbara alongside invasive Castor in semi-open chaparral.

Good for soil retention on slopes that either get at least good fog moisture or shade. It spreads by rhizome. In hot, dry climates, it's a slow spreader and population control is no problem. Apparently, it is a much greater problem in places that get regular rain.

Mugwort will often present itself either as lobed-leaved or simple-leaved, but sometimes a change in conditions will cause it to change over part-way through the growing season. Color varies from a yellow green on both sides to a rich, dark green on top and white underside. All this variation can be observed from a single stand of Mugwort, especially in a garden setting where artificial watering and uneven shade are common.

Western Mugwort is a pleasant foliage and medicinal plant, grown primarily for its pleasantly fragrant foliage. Its inconspicuous flower clusters mark the end of the growing season, and is often harvested then unless seeds are desired. The plant is viable until the seeds ripen, at which point the flowering shoots have a tendency to wither until thaw.

This horrible plant sends underground runners that are impossible to contain. I rue the day the former owner planted it along with houtt...Read Moreuynia. I can pull and pull, to no end. It just pulls up a 20-inch root that is growing elsewhere in the same bed.

I'm not growing this plant, it grows wild on our property. There seem to be two different varieties, one with the lobed leaves and one w...Read Moreith the straight leaves shown in the photo with the flowers. The straight leaved ones are quite a bit more fragrant when dried, but the lobed ones are more fragrant when used for smudging.

Does anyone know if these are both douglasiana?

Thanks!