Japanese Anemone

I saw a photo of a Japanese Anemone in a magazine years ago, and fell in love. Now I have a garden full of these beauties. I truly fine them lovely and can’t stop taking photos. Their clusters of unopened silver-furred buds are just as enchanting as their soft five petal blooms.

Bloom at the end of the growing season

One of their highlights, besides their soft beauty is how they add pizzazz to your autumn garden, when everything else is starting to look a little tired. They are low-maintance and grow into substantial mounds laden with attractive compound foliage.

The are as fresh as daisies, which they resemble from a distance, and as graceful as old-fashioned single form roses, which they resemble up close.

The 2-4″ flowers surge above, held high on arching stalks. Occasionally they are called windflower, because they resemble clouds of flower stalks being tossed gently in an autumn breeze, an irresistible sight.

They like sun to partial shade and rich, well-draining soil so tuck some into your flower borders. Mine grow among the Phlox, Toad Lily, Ligularia and Hydrangea in part shade and are healthy and happy. A hybrid between several wild species, they come in single or semi-double, shallow-cupped blooms.

They grow in zone 4-8 and come in colors, white, pink or rose. They are slow to establish, but once they take root, they can become invasive. I usually have to pull clumps out in the spring that pop up where they are unwelcome. Japanese beetles also can do major damage to the leaves. The overall vigor of the plant will be reduced if the infestation is heavy. Though usually its just a little helpful pruning. 🙂

After your first frost they blacken and become quite unattractive. That is when you will want to cut down for the winter. If you are a northern gardener consider mulching over winter. But if your lucky and you have along fall they will go to seed and release a fluffy pod of seeds that resemble cotton. They really can dazzle you from start to finish.