Re: Artemisia tridentata in Michigan?

 I've grown sagebrush in my Western Oregon garden for about eight years.  This is the temperate rainforest, so we get HEAVY rainfall in the winter, although lows are only in the twenties. (Sagebrush is native to much colder winters -- below zero).  Summers are dry here, though, and aren't humid.  Soils are heavy, water-retentive clay.

I've found that sagebrush's ability to tolerate these conditions varies widely from plant to plant.  I've had a plant die, replaced it with one of the same subspecies in the same planting hole, and had the second one thrive.  So if at first you fail, don't give up!  It does seem that the subspecies A.  Tridentrata wyomingensis might be more water- and light-shade-tolerant. But I've only about one plant of the subspecies, so it could just be that particular plant :-).  A.  Tridentrata tridentrata seems to be unable to cope with the slightest shade, so be warned about that.  And of course planting on a slope, mound., or raised bed is going to help with drainage.  As far as the humidity, one might of course expect that sagebrush wouldn't have resistance to fungal leaf diseases, so excellent air circulation might be helpful, as well as thinning out the branches (if you're lucky enough to get it growing large and bushy!).

Other Artemisia species generally have completely different fragrances.  They're not the same, but who knows, maybe you will like one of them better.  If you give up on the sagebrush, or in addition to it.

A good source for mail-order sagebrush is Plants of the Wild in Washington state.  (You can google them; they have a web page.)  EXTREMELY inexpensive plants!  I haven't succeeded in getting sagebrush seed to sprout, but I haven't really investigated it... it must have some sort of special requirement for germination, but maybe not that complicated once you know the trick.

I plan to plant a large raised bed of sagebrush and species tulips in my new garden (I've just moved) so that the whole area will smell of the desert!

Good luck, from your fellow sagebrush fan,
-- Susannah
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