There is nothing I love more than helping fellow plant lovers discover something new, and my top recommendation for this month is the fall-blooming anemone, Eriocapitella japonica.
Elegant, charming, and easy to grow, anemones are often overlooked because they bloom at the end of summer, but this is the very thing that I appreciate most about them.
‘Honorine Jobert’ was my first anemone, and I still have offshoots from the original plant in my current garden, some twenty-five years later. They are wonderful passalong plants that spread slowly in good garden soil, more slowly in dry, lean soil. They appreciate a bit of fertilizer in the spring and regular watering when the soil is dry. I’ve never seen them bothered by either pests or disease in all the years I’ve grown them.
Anemones grown in the South are happiest in morning sun, with an hour or two of afternoon shade, otherwise the leaves may scorch a little in our hottest months. In too much shade the tall flower stalks tend to flop.
Anemones are long-lived perennials with basal foliage that grows to around 12 inches tall in summer and blooms appear in September, lasting often into late November in my zone 8b garden. The bloom stalks of ‘Honorine Jobert’ and ‘September Charm’ are 3-4 feet tall, while others, like the petite ‘Lady Diana’ only grow to about 12 inches. My current favorite, ‘Pamina’ typically grows to about 2 feet tall in my garden.
They do well in average garden soil, and do not need pampering. If you grow them in rich soil, they will romp through a bed in a few years, and you’ll have plenty of offshoots to share or move to other parts of your garden.
In my front garden bed, I grow two types of pink anemones behind a grouping of low-growing Japanese hollies and prostrate yews, so that in September the bloom stalks rise up behind the shrubs, giving me a beautiful display for months.
Anemones are a delightful alternative to the usual fall offerings filling garden centers this month, which honestly seem a bit gaudy in comparison. Who wants pumpkins and gourds when you can gaze upon these lovely blooms?
