Fall Anemones Couldn’t Be Simpler to Grow

Virtues: Fall anemones require little input from the gardener but they offer a great reward of clean, fresh flowers in late summer and autumn. Their shade tolerance, low foliage and tall, graceful flower stems make them easy to mix into the perennial border. The are also deer resistant.

Common name: Japanese anemone, fall anemone

Botanical name:Anemone hupehensis, A. hybrida, A. tomentosa, A. vitifolia and their hybrids.

Exposure: Part shade

Season: Fall, for flowers

Flowers: Broad, flat petals, sometimes with a ruffled edge, surround a tuft of bright gold. The flower petals are usually white or pink, depending on variety. Flowers open in late summer and into fall from fat, round buds atop thin, stiff stems.

Foliage: Clean, deep green, broadly lobed leaves form a clump at the base of the plant, from which the flowering stems will rise.

Habit: Size varies depending on cultivar, but fall anemones typically grow between 2 and 4 feet tall and half as wide. The flower stems can reach even taller. This is an herbaceous perennial that will die back to the ground in winter.

How to grow fall anemones: Plant these anemones in the spring or fall, in moist, well-drained, average soil. Keep the plants watered as they get established, but thereafter they require supplemental watering only in times of drought. No fertilizer required. Fall-blooming anemones can be divided and replanted in early spring, as they break dormancy. When happy, the can spread, but unwanted sprouts are easy to pull and compost or replant elsewhere. USDA Zones 4–9.

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