Anemones for Spring and Fall

Whether you call it Spanish Marigold, Windflower, or Poppy Anemone, Anemone coronaria (pronounced ah-NEM-oh-nee kor-oh-NAR-ee-ah) makes a bright pop of color in spring gardens. The Saint Brigid series was bred in Hollard. Their flowers are semi-double and will tolerate a little more shade than the De Caen series, which was bred in France.

Anemones are tolerant of most levels of acidity and different soil textures, but they perform much better in loamy or sandy soils than they do in clay. Avoid wet soils, which may lead to root rot. Anemones are cold-hardy in zones 7-10. Plants may reach up to 18 inches in height, but no more than 8 inches in width, so they look best if grown with a fairly tight spacing – 6 inches or so. The bright flowers lose impact when they are spread more than a foot apart. Flowers are long-lasting when cut for the vase, but avoid contact with the milky sap. It may produce a blistering rash in sensitive individuals.

Anemones bulbs should be planted in fall. They are ephemeral, which means that they flower in spring and then their top foliage dies away until the following spring. They may reseed, or can be propagated by division after a couple of years. The bulbs are poisonous. They are not normally damaged by deer or rabbits.

Another Anemone, Anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert', is not quite as well-behaved as the A. coronaria species described above. Honorine Jobert is taller (3-4 feet), with pure white flowers, yellow stamens and a green button center. It spreads aggressively through rhizomes. If you have a large, damp, sunny-to-part-shade area that you want to cover quickly, this is a low maintenance plant (except for the inevitable division, which may occur faster than expected). Honorine Jobert blooms in fall rather than spring, putting on a display for up to eight weeks or more. It is cold hardy in zones 4-8, and has the same blistering sap as its shorter, more colorful cousins.

Anemone has ferny foliage

Anemone flowers outlast daffodils, tulips

A close view of Honorine Jobert flower. The petals have a slight ruffle to them.

Delicate Trout Lily for Earliest Spring Bloom

In late winter, stumbling across a blooming patch of Trout Lily is an unexpected bonus,  like discovering a $20 bill in the pocket of a rarely-worn jacket. Erythronium americanum, Trout Lily, is sometimes called the Yellow Dogtooth Violet or Adder’s Tongue. It would take an active imagination to conjure the delicate yellow flowers with brown or bronze reverse into a fish, canine teeth, or a snake’s tongue.

This lovely ephemeral is native to the eastern US. “Ephemeral” means “fleeting,” which is exactly how this plant behaves. It blooms in early spring before tree leaves emerge, about the same time as Crocus. Soon after flowering, the plant produces seeds and then withers away. The seeds will eventually develop into corms, a type of bulb. They are sold as corms, not seeds. Plant in fall for best results. Most corms prefer shallow planting, but Trout Lily likes a deep hole (five inches) which seems unusual for such a small bulb. The seeds are spread around by ants.

Plants thrive in moist, shady woodlands with acidic soils. It takes a year or two for juvenile plants to start blooming. Juveniles are easy to spot since they only produce a single leaf rather than the paired leaves of mature specimens. Plants reach a mere six inches in height, with the bloom stems slightly taller. Older plants may stop flowering if the bulbs become too congested. In this case, lift and divide just as the plants begin to go dormant.

Trout Lily leaves have a mottled appearance. Flower petals curl back toward the stem, described by botanists as recurving. Blooms are one- to three-inches in diameter. Flowers contain six yellow stamens and reddish-brown anthers. There is a less common white form, E. albidum, whose white flower petals are flushed with lavender on the reverse side. Adder’s Tongue, E. propullans, is  a pink-flower form found only in Minnesota. Strangely, it bears a small bulblet halfway up the stem.

Trout Lily looks delicate but it is quite sturdy, making its appearance early in the year when frosts and freezes are still common. The flowers attract bees. The corms, unfortunately, are tasty to small forest critters although deer usually leave them alone. Protect them with a circle fence of buried fine-mesh wire or a gravel moat. Since I have both cats and dogs, I researched their toxicity. One source said that the bulbs were edible, with a cucumber-like taste. Another said that the bulbs were an emetic (makes one vomit). No further testing on my part! I opted for the protection of the wire mesh to prevent my pets from tasting.

The bronze backs of the Trout Lily petals are evident in this photo. Note the mottled leaves.

Trout Lily bloom detail

Easy, Hardy Orchids

Bletilla striata is pronounced bleh-TIL-ah stry-AY-tah. Such a musical moniker for a lovely spring-blooming orchid. Common names are Hardy Orchid, Ground Orchid, Chinese Ground Orchid. All three are accurate. They are hardy in Zones 5 to 9. They are “terrestrial,” meaning they grow in soil. And they are native to China, Korea and Japan.
Hardy orchids spring from a bulb (a pseudo-bulb, actually, but the distinction is unimportant). Their pleated leaves emerge in earliest spring and are often zapped by late freezes. The damaged foliage doesn’t impact the blooms. The leaves are unusual in that the veins run from base to tip in a fan-like arrangement.  Downward-facing purple blooms have markings similar to cattleya orchids, with up to 18 flowers on each wiry stem.  A white type is available also, but it is not as vigorous as the purple form. A mature clump will produce numerous bloom stems. The flowering period lasts for several weeks.
Plants thrive in rich, moist but well-drained soil, and reproduce readily, meaning they naturalize into attractive clumps. Divide clumps when the number of bloom stems starts to decline. Individual plants reach heights of 12 - 18 inches. These show-offs are easily grown in partial shade. They will also perform well in containers. Cut stems to ground in winter for a neat appearance when the new leaves emerge in the spring. Mulch well in cold-winter areas. Do not allow soil to dry completely or flowering will be reduced.

Tiny orchid-like flowers

A photo in early spring, before the flowers open. Note the tips of the leaves show damage from a late freeze.

A healthy clump