'Robinsoniana' Wood Anemone
"As beautiful in thought, & so express
Immortal truths to earth's mortality;
Though to my soul ability be less
Than 't is to thee, O sweet anemone."
-Madison Cawein
(1865-1914)
(1865-1914)
Growing in a row underneath a fountaining Fuchsia magellanica var molinae are a couple tiny clumps of blue-flowering Anemone nemorosa 'Robinsoniana.'
Even though the sub-shrub they are under is itself quite small, the wood anemones only grow to four or five inches tall, spreading very slowly by rhizomes until it eventually forms a matting colony.Sometimes the fuchsia attempts to be evergreen through winter but never quite makes it, & gets a good trimming back late in winter or early in spring. When the little anemones are blooming beginning late March or early April, the fuchsia has not yet gotten much new growth on it, so the bright blue anemone blooms are not hidden.
These woodland flowers love bright shade. The cultivar 'Robinsoniana,' bluer than the species, has become the standard clone.
It's a vigorous plant, cold-hardy in zones four through eight, but wood anemones never like heat. They are showy throughout spring, but as summer approaches they begin to die back to the ground. If the soil is kept persistently moist they'll last to the end of June, then not be seen again until the leaves pop up the following March.
In the same vicinity are A. nemerosa 'Vestal' which has double-flowers that look like eency weency double-gardenias, & Anemonella thalictroides the Rue Anemone that is about the same size & habit as the true wood anemones.