Anemone coronaria De Caen

In almost all garden books and blogs you can read that the Anemone coronaria can be planted in both autumn and winter. But my experience is that it does much better here if it is planted in spring. Presumably the winter here is too wet and it withers in the ground and perhaps planting in autumn works better in the more southern gardens of Europe.

Anemone coronaria originates from Syria and Lebanon where it blooms in April - May, after sufficient rain has fallen. In the dry summer it goes dormant and the tuber can shrivel until it looks like a rock-hard wrinkled piece of wood. As soon as there is water again, it absorbs it like a sponge and grows three times as large after which it starts growing and blooming again.

The Anemone coronaria has literally been a very popular cut flower since time immemorial, this colorful flower has been talked about since long before our era. Even today, it is grown on a large scale, especially in Israel, for its cheerful flowers.