SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) had told me the plant in our back yard was an Artemisia. But I had doubts and had questioned that from time to time. I said it looked similar to other plants in our area that she had identified as Russian Sage. Still she insisted it was different and was an Artemisia.
Finally, one day when it was in full purple-blossomed bloom, I looked for pictures of such a plant on the Internet. I found many gray-green plants that looked very similar to the way ours looked when we first got here but none with purple blossoms.
So I told my garden expert (SWMBO) about it and let it drop.
A few days later she came to me and said something along the lines of "you were right." As a golden shaft of light struck me and the angels began to sing, she continued "I looked on the Internet and it's a Rocketman Russian Sage."
Then she added a tiny clause. "So you win once in 43 years. Big deal."
The ROCKETMAN RUSSIAN SAGE seems to be a hardy plant. Here's a picture of it after a thunderstorm passed through a few days ago.
As you may be able to see, the pounding rain pretty much flattened it.
But here it is a short time later after it had sprung back up.
So, if you see one of these in your yard, remember - it is not an Artemisia. It is a ROCKETMAN RUSSIAN SAGE!
