THE JAPANESE ANEMONE

With high summer temperatures just around the corner, most peoples gardens are starting to run out of steam, and that includes many public and pay-to-enter private gardens. This is of course perfectly natural, after all, northern European plants flower in the spring. That way they have enough time over the summer to produce and ripen their fruit so that it is ready for seed dispersal in the autumn. As we all should know, autumn is natures time for sowing seed.

Image credit - http://kootation.com/

However, one plant at least seems determined to create its own flowers show and that is the utterly beautiful Japanese anemone - Anemone hupehensis

Although commonly called the 'Japanese anemone', Anemone hupehensis is in fact a native to central China, though it has been naturalised in Japan for hundreds of years.

The species was first named and described in Flora Japonica (1784), by Carl Thunberg who had collected dried specimens while working as a doctor for the Dutch East Indies Company. However it was the great plant hunter Robert Fortune who brought this lovely plant to England from China in 1844. During his explorations he noted that he often found Anemone hupehensis planted about Chinese graves.

How to grow the Japanese Anenome

Image credit - www.bookishgardener.com

These plants thrive best in shady areas and under protection of larger plants, and in all but the hottest and the driest conditions in the United States. They are especially sensitive to drought or over-watering, so plant into any good well-drained, but moisture retentive soil. In dry soils, moisture holding can be improved by mixing in perlite or vermiculite into the ground before planting.

Anemone hupehensis can be invasive or weedy in some areas, throwing out suckers from the fibrous rootstock, to rapidly colonise an area. Once established they can be extremely difficult to eradicate. On the other hand, they can take some time to become established.

Cut the stems down to ground level after flowering.

How to propagate the Japanese anemone

Sections of anemone roots - Image credit www.artistsgarden.co.uk

These plant are easily propagated through division between October and March, but this shouldn't be undertaken until after the parent plant had has a chance to establish itself for several years.

Alternatively, root cuttings can be taken between November and January.

Insert 1-2 inch sections into pots containing equal parts of peat and sand by volume. The cuttings should be about 2 inches apart so that the horizontal cut surface at the top of the root is just below the surface of the compost and top dress with a 3/8 inch layer of grit.
Water the compost lightly and place the pots in a cold frame.

In the following spring, pot up individually when the cuttings show signs of growth and are well rooted. Grow plants on and plant out the following year.

For related articles click onto:
Agave
Allium giganteum
Aloe vera
Bamboo
Buy Agave Seed
Buy Aloe vera Seed
Bird of Paradise Flower
Christmas Cactus Care
Coleus
Dinosaur Plants: The Cycad
Dinosaur Plants: The Sago Palm
Dracunculus vulgaris - The Dragon Lily
Echiums
Choosing Hardy Cacti and Succulents for Growing Outside
Growing Geraniums from Seed
How to Grow Bamboo
How to Grow Dahlias from Seed?
How to Grow Echium from Seed
How to Grow Lobelia from Seed?
Hardy Exotic Plants for that Tropical Garden Effect
How to Grow Palm Trees from Seed
How to Grow Aloe vera from Seed
How to Grow Banana Trees from Seed
How to Grow Geraniums from Seeds
How to Grow the Glory Lily (Gloriosa superba) from Seed
How to Grow Roses from Seed
How to Grow the Sago Palm from Seed
How to Propagate Bamboo?
Paeony lactiflora 'Bowl of Beauty'
Schlumbergera Species - The Christmas Cacti
The Eyeball Plant
The Monkey Puzzle Tree - Araucaria araucana
Trachelospermum jasminoides
What has the Christmas cactus got to do with Christmas?
Hardy Cacti and Succulents for Growing Outside
What is an Agave?
What is Aloe vera?
What is Bamboo?
What is a Jade Plant?