Blog and Photos By Penny Holtzmann
Board Member and Treasurer, Wild Ones – St. Louis Chapter
Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis) up close
Plant name:
Canada anemone (Anemone Canadensis)
Description:
This plant provides a nice ground cover up to 12-inches tall with interesting leaf shape and sweet little white flowers in May and June. Flowers are one to one-and-a-half inches across, with five white petal-like sepals and numerous yellow-tipped stamens.
Why I chose this plant:
About 15 years ago my sister shared some of these plants with me and I have enjoyed them very much. It is related to Thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana), a taller plant with smaller off-white flowers which give way to a thimble-shaped seed head.
Visitors:
From an article on Houzz.com titled, Great Design Plant: Anemone Canadensis Adds Pizzazz to Water’s Edges by Heather Holm:
Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis)
“Canada anemone flowers are nectarless, so the insects who visit (bees, flies and beetles) are either pollen feeders or pollen collectors. Mining bees (Andrena spp) are very common visitors to the flowers; other bees that visit include small, solitary bees, like sweat bees (Halictus spp), small sweat bees (Lasioglossum spp) and yellow-faced bees (Hylaeus spp).”
Rabbits are a problem in my yard, but I’ve never seen any evidence of them eating Canada anemone.
Environment:
Moist conditions in full to partial sun – pond edges, stream banks. You will read that Canada anemone is aggressive, but it has not been a problem where I have it – behind my garage and under a silver maple. It gets only a couple hours of afternoon sun and the ground does not stay moist.
References:
Missouri Botanical Garden
United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service
Where to purchase:
Prairie Moon offers seed and bare root plants.
Prairie Nursery offers three-inch pots.
I bought one at our plant sale from our booth. I knew what it could do because I saw it in your yard.
This little neglected plant is everywhere on our 5 acres in New Melle.
It seeds with such abandon that I started circular gardens around the bottom of Oak trees in the front yard. It keeps a tidy look and plays well with others like Pennsylvania Sedge, Columbine, Dittany, Violets & Heuchera.