ANEMONE

Widespread in the temperate regions of both hemispheres, this buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) genus encompasses around 120 species of perennials.A large and versatile group, their colorful, wide-open, bowl-shaped flowers are generally borne on wiry stems that hold them well above the clumps of finely divided foliage appears but some continue into early summer and a few bloom in autumn. Most likly the genus name is derived from the Greek anemos, meaning wind, hence its common name windflower, but some consider it to come from Naamen, a variation on the name Adonis. According to legend, it was his blood that gave Anemone coronaria its red flowers.

CULTIVATION

Some species, appropriately known as wood anemones, prefer woodland conditions with dappled shade but most are happy in a sunny perennial or flower border with either by division in winter when dormant or, in the case of the strains grown as annuals, by seed.

Top Tip

Anemones can be divided into 2 main groups: tuberous and rhizmatous types that flower mainly in spring; and those roots that flower in autumn.