...it's so uplifting to see others, such as Japanese anemones, ending the year with all guns blazing.
While many perennials in my garden borders have packed up shop for the year and are dying down, it's so uplifting to see others, such as Japanese anemones, ending the year with all guns blazing.
I've always had a soft spot for Japanese anemones. Our family home in Surrey had a massive, spreading clump of them outside the front door, where they flowered through late-summer and into autumn. They flourished despite the challenges of the site, with its very heavy but dry clay soil along the wall of the house. The wall faced north, so they didn't receive any direct sun at all.
Survivors are valuable garden plants, and always worth recommending to others, so when I come across sites with similar challenges, then Anemone japonica (which we now need to call Anemone x hybrida) always springs to mind. There are several related varieties, too, including Anemone hupehensis, all originating from the Far East from Japan to China. They shade, cope with dry sites, but doesn't seem to mind a heavy clay soil either. Best of all they spread.
If you can beg a clump of anemones from a friend, then autumn's a great time for transplanting, making sure there is lots of soil attached. They won't miss a bit from the back of their clump, and within a few years your display will hopefully be as big as theirs!
I think some varieties have rather wishy-washy flowers, like 'September Charm', whose blooms are pale pink; I prefer either a pure white flower, like 'Honorine Jobert', or something providing a deep, rich, colour. 'Pamina' is wonderful, producing mainly double deep pink flowers, adding real impact to autumn displays. Last autumn I planted Anemone hupehensis 'Splendens' (pictured) with a bold crown of golden anthers at the centre of every flower. Gorgeous. And being a hardy perennial, it'll be back year after year, bringing colour and joy to gloomy autumn days.
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