Anemone de Caen

Hi - can anyone help please with the soil type for these bulbs. I plan to soak them for 24 hours before planting but into what? Should it be gritty, JI no 3, leaf mould or just ordinary compost? I am moving and just bought some half price bulbs and want to put them in pots awaiting final transplanting later in the year. Should I add some bonemeal? I haven't had much luck with them in the past so this is my final shot! Many thanks

I have only ever grown them in open ground, which is the norm. but in a pot you should use ordinary compost mixed with horticultural grit as they like good drainage. If you can't get that then use sharp sand (not builders sand ) from your local builders merchant. I would mix 3:1 by volume compost to grit / sand.

You could add bonemeal, though that is for term development of the corm and not for this year's flowers. They are not very hardy (zones 7 - 10), and will be more vulnerable to frost in pots rather than in the ground unless you shelter the pot.  I might lift them in autumn, dry and store them, and replant in spring. If you intend leaving them in a pot over winter maybe you should go for John Innes no 3, as ordinary MP compost will be nothing but peat and sand by autumn, 

Goldilocks has covered most things, but you don't need to soak them for more than 12 hours. I find that they are hardy in the ground, and reasonably so in large planters, although I did lose some in 2010. Mind you, we did have a solid week of -10C and below.

The wonderful local radio gardening expert Brian Kidd always says that the trick with these is to plant them in a wide bulb dish, placing one at each point of the clock-face and one in the middle.  When they start to sprout and you see where the gaps are, gently dig out those tubers and turn them over - they will have been planted upside down!  Apparently they have a right way up, but it's sometimes difficult to tell.

Once they have germinated, it's then easy to transplant the pot of anemones into the garden.

"They are not very hardy (zones 7 - 10)"

Since that is ALL of the UK it sounds like you copy and pasted that straight out of another website, probably American. Anemone de Caen are super easy to plant. You only need to soak them if the weather and soil is dry. With all the rain it is hardy necessary. They are woodland plants, so loose soil and some shade during the day and they will be fine.

"I might lift them in autumn, dry and store them, and replant in spring."

Consumate waste of time. The tubers are fully hardy and will flower earlier in spring if left in over winter. Gladioli and Dhalia yes you do lift, but not Anemone de Caen. If you must copy from a webpage Gold1locks, then try and understand what you are atrying to say instead of filling other head full of your misunderstood rubbish.

Blairs,

I try very hard to give good information, and sometimes I do check on websites before replying, though I don't attempt to reply to anything I don't think I have some personal experience of. I did say I had no personal experience of growing them in pots, and I know that the UK zones are 7-10, so anemones should be fine in open ground, as mine are.  I was responding to the suggestion of keeping them in pots, i.e. above ground. I do know that for many plants the hardiness zones refer to their tolerance of low temperatures in the ground. For example, Japanese maples typically are quoted as hardy to zones 5 - 6, but are less hardy in pots, and I have lost one or two due to prolonged very cold winter temperatures in Wales (1000 ft up) 

When I said anemones are not very hardy, I should have explained that I was referring to the idea of keeping them in pots. By comparison, crocuses, tulips, daffodils are hardy down to Zones 3 or 4.   

Sometimes we get it wrong, Blairs, and when we do most other boarders gently put one another right by offering the benefit of their own experiences and not use words like 'rubbish' to describe another boarder's efforts. While you may know your anemones you clearly have a lot to learn about good manners. 

Now, where's that 'ignore' button. 

And I would point out that I did lose anemones in pots in a cold winter, just as Goldilocks suggested. Yes, it was an unusually cold winter, but I still lost them.

Roxy, 

I found this on a gardening website. It explains why I was cautious about keeping anemone de Caen in pots over winter. Of course it may be that this advice does not apply to anemones, but I could find nothing about growing them in pots.

Knowing your plant hardiness zone is particularly important if you are growing perennials, trees or shrubs in your garden pots. If you live in a cold zone, you'll want to make sure your plants are rated for two zones colder than your area, because the roots of container plants get colder in pots than if they were in the ground.

Gold1locks - Hardiness zones are a waste of time in the UK. Most of the UK is 8, which is the same from a zone from California, Texas all the way through to Virginia. Why does a plant that thrives in California not thrive or survive a UK winter? The difference is winter rain and low light levels. Nothing to do with hardiness which is a measure of frost. A palm can survive lots of frost but not a winter with its roots soaking most of the time.

So please stop copying information from the internet that has NO value to UK gardeners. We all have google and can read, if you have nothing to add then why bother?

Gold1locks - now on ignore list. Something clearly EVERYONE on here should do to stop their mind being filled with crap copy and pasted from other sites by someone who clearly has no idea what she is saying. How vulgar and inarticulate.

I have loads of these at the front of the house and they do really well. We have sandy soil which is perfect. I didn't soak them before planting.

I have had a lot of trouble getting my Anemones to come back, I find all suggestions made are helpful, particulary if the poster is happy to answer further questions. I can then use what I find most appropriate to my garden conditions.

Surely criticising posts will drive people away and this board will then close.

I have known Goldlocks from other forums -always a knowledable and helpful poster-so will not be added to my ignore list,

Just for information- she is not a she -but a he.

I'm only pointing out that copying information from the internet is not helpful. Well meaning I am sure, but information for US gardeners is not useful to us.

Blairs

Fair comment-but there are ways of expressing things on a forum-you came over as hypercritical of another poster and the way you expressed it was rather unpleasant in what you said and how it was said.

roxy2 hi!  I bought a cheap box of Anemone de Caen from a supermarket and sowed some indoors and outdoors in February and March.   I'm central Scotland, beginner gardener, soil 6-7pH and temperatures have ranged from -1 to 10 degrees last two months.  Know nothing about Anemone de Caen but here is photo of results in different conditions.  Compost in pots was just multi-p.    Friend who had previous year's ones in pots lost some but said was due to continual heavy rain and pots were  soaked.  She also puts pots in sheltered place in very low temps.  I won't know what happens with my outdoors ones until next year.  Also as beginner, have no idea if my seedlings ought to be as floppy as they seem to be or if they ought to be standing upright better.  Not sure if this helps with anything.

Gold1locks, you have generously responded to some of my problem queries on other subject threads and all responses really encourage beginners like myself  to participate in forum discussions, even when we feel we lack the level of knowledge or experience to express ourselves adequately or 'fit in' with any particular level of 'gardening language'.  For those of us who have no nearby gardening buddies or mentors,  the ambience and absence particularly of critical hierarchy on this forum is a real boost to flagging would-be gardeners who really benefit from the generosity of others willing to share their experiences and give a few minutes of their time to encourage others.  So thank you.

yarrow2 wrote (see)

roxy2 hi!  I bought a cheap box of Anemone de Caen from a supermarket and sowed some indoors and outdoors in February and March.   I'm central Scotland, beginner gardener, soil 6-7pH and temperatures have ranged from -1 to 10 degrees last two months.  Know nothing about Anemone de Caen but here is photo of results in different conditions.  Compost in pots was just multi-p.    Friend who had previous year's ones in pots lost some but said was due to continual heavy rain and pots were  soaked.  She also puts pots in sheltered place in very low temps.  I won't know what happens with my outdoors ones until next year.  Also as beginner, have no idea if my seedlings ought to be as floppy as they seem to be or if they ought to be standing upright better.  Not sure if this helps with anything.

Gold1locks, you have generously responded to some of my problem queries on other subject threads and all responses really encourage beginners like myself  to participate in forum discussions, even when we feel we lack the level of knowledge or experience to express ourselves adequately or 'fit in' with any particular level of 'gardening language'.  For those of us who have no nearby gardening buddies or mentors,  the ambience and absence particularly of critical hierarchy on this forum is a real boost to flagging would-be gardeners who really benefit from the generosity of others willing to share their experiences and give a few minutes of their time to encourage others.  So thank you.

If you think regurgitating sometimes wrong information from the internet is helping you then you really do need ot get out more and meet real people.

Anemones don't always grow bolt upright, but your bottom left picture shows quite thin stems, so they may have been small corms.

It doesn't matter, though - they should cheer up with a bit of sunshine, which they do enjoy.

I bought Anemone de Caen corms yesterday and presumed I should plant them at this time of year. Although I have gardened for many years, I have never tried these in my garden as I am on clay soil. As I have no experience of them I thought I'd check out the internet info. I can understand Blairs annoyance at information which really is only useful in the US and I try to avoid this when looking at gardening information. I did have to check that I really was looking at Gardeners World in GB when I saw the info given by Gold1lock. I think I will leave planting the corms until the spring as my garden is north facing and cold and when I plant will incorporate organic matter and grit for drainage. Thank you all for your help. Now I just have to remember where I've stored them.

which is the right way up       mary