Anemones

The flowering of the spring flowering Anemones mark that moment when the weather is on the turn for the better and the stronger light of spring is accentuated by the shiny wet foliage resulting from scudding showers (though these were seemingly absent in Somerset in 2022 and 2023 !) and windy conditions. This is just what they love. They open wide in the sunshine though if the light is only dappled by dint of still bare branches on the trees they won’t mind.

However they are not all alike even when ‘resting’: the bulbous (A. blanda) forms form hard, wizened corms, which need an overnight soak before planting and will take a long hot summer in their stride. The rhizomatous forms of wood anemone (A. apennina and the various A. nemorosa) need a cooler, shady (but also dry) rest after they have flowered, so they prefer more shaded, woodland-like conditions and, due to hating exposure to air, the rhizomes will be damp packed in coir when despatched by us.