Random thoughts on Growing Your Own Sweet Annie

Sweet Annie, Annual Wormwood, Artemisia Annua, Ambrosia

A prim crafter’s perspective- I’ve grown Sweet Annie for a dozen years or so, and find
it to be one of my personal favorites for use in my wreaths and prim crafts. I’m
located in a northern coastal state and this is my experience with Sweet Annie.

Sweet Annie is easy to grow and perfect for floral designs and crafting, because of
the feathery foliage, abundant yellow buds, and the fragrance. (Varieties with no
fragrance have also emerged.) It is pretty in the garden and a favorite of butterflies
and bees. Although an annual, it reseeds itself abundantly, generally not where one
expects to find it. In many parts of the country it grows in the wild, along
roadsides, and such.

Sweet Annie can quickly become a nuisance and perhaps it’s best to purchase it
harvested and ready to use rather than to grow it yourself, particularly if you like
neat tidy gardens. I myself use a huge amount and celebrate each and every stray
seedling I find, but some farm folk friends find it to be a curse.

In my New England garden, most years it emerges painfully slow in spring time,
then suddenly bursts into growth when the weather turns warm. Some years it
grows better than others, as do most things. I try to keep some extra seed on hand
for the bad years. It likes well drained soil and not too much rain, but needs
watering in dry spells. I keep mine mulched with newspaper, covered with
shredded leaf materials.

When it does spring forth, it will appear as teeny little ferny plants.... From the
beginning they have a fragrant smell when squeezed between your fingers, which
will help you to distinguish them from weeds. I let mine grow a few inches before
disturbing them and then remove them and place them where I’d prefer them to
grow, and pamper them until they take hold. If they come up in a walkway, I pot
them up for the time being, then transplant to the garden once they’ve grown big
enough.

I grow Sweet Annie in my herb garden and as a filler / background plant in my

perennial gardens, and in every other nook or cranny I can tuck a plant into. It
needs ample space (2 ft), and full to partial sun to grow to its full potential (4 ft and
more). Grown by itself, Sweet Annie is not the most attractive plant during the
growing season, because of it’s height, and because it’s generally pretty thin at
ground level. I fill in the space around it with “garden art” if needed… a rusty
watering can, a few stacked clay pots, a vintage child’s tricycle, some pots of herbs
or nasturtiums, etc.

Sweet Annie benefits from trimming during the early part of the growing season.
This will enable it to flourish into a bushy shape, with more abundant foliage and
budding.
It blooms in late summer or early autumn and should be harvested once the yellow
blooms appear, but before blooms open fully. Harvest on a dry day. Allow some
plants to remain in your gardens to drop seed if you’d like it to reseed.

Harvest by cutting close to the ground and tie a few stalks together with jute cord.
Hang each bunch upside down to dry in a cool dark airy place. Be sure to separate
the bunches, so they have room to “breath”. Too much warmth and it will turn
brown, which is fine for prim crafting. I like it both ways, depending on what I’m
using it for.

Spread newspaper underneath the harvested Sweet Annie to gather any stray seed.
Once your Sweet Annie has dried, place the dried stalks foliage side down in a large
kraft paper bag, to collect further seed droppings. I also scoop up fallen seed and
stray plant materials while crafting with it and throw them outside in my gardens,
in late fall, in winter (throw it right on top of the snow), or early spring. Or save in
a paper bag for planting later. These are also perfect for rolling your grubby
candles in.

A word of caution… For some folks, handling the plant materials or breathing the
pollen may cause an allergic reaction, sometimes severe. Watch for symptoms.
Before crafting, you may wish to first spray plant materials with unscented
hairspray to cut down on pollen.

Sweet Annie is a must-have for primitive crafters, and for floral designers. It’s
perfect for dried wreaths and swags, to tuck into Christmas stockings or primitive
seedbags, to tie onto primitive soaps or candles, or simply to wrap your doll’s arms
around.

Other favorites I grow to harvest and arrange with Sweet Annie include, but are not
limited to, Queen Ann’s Lace, Sage, Tansy, and wild Rosehips.

~Denise Davis, Sassafras Hill Primitives

www.sassafrashill.com