Anemone coronaria, windflower

Anemone coronaria, poppy anemone, Spanish marigold, windflower, lilies of the field

Anemone coronaria is a herbaceous perennial tuberous plant growing to 20–40 cm tall, rarely to 60 cm (0.75–1.50 feet), spreading to 15–23 cm (0.50 to 0.75 feet), with a basal rosette of a few leaves, the leaves with three leaflets, each leaflet deeply lobed. The flowers which bloom from April to June are borne singly on a tall stem with a whorl of small leaves just below the flower; the flower is 3–8 cm diameter, with 5–8 red (but may be white or blue) showy petal-like tepals and a black centre. The pollen is dry, has an unsculpted exine, is less than 40 nm in diameter, and is usually deposited within 1.5 m of its source. This central mound consists of tightly packed pistils in the centre, with a crown-like ring of stamens surrounding this, which gives the species its name.  The flowers produce 200–300 seeds.  The plants form hard black tubers as storage organs.

Native Range: Northern Africa, southern Europe, western Asia. They grow in the eastern Mediterranean littoral, from Greece, southern Turkey and Syria to Israel with sporadic extension east to northern Iraq and west along the Mediterranean shores of Italy, southern France and North Africa.Anemone coronaria grows wild all over the region of Palestine, including Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Modern cultivars have very large flowers, with diameters of 8–10 cm and a wide range of bright and pastel colours, in addition to two toned varieties. The centre is usually black, but may be pale green in white varieties. Stems may be as tall as 40–50 cm, and each plant may produce 13–15 blooms

Flowers in mid-spring (April) and lasts about 4 weeks; about 10-12 inches tall; reproduces by seeds and tubers and requires a warm (50-65 degrees F) to cool (35-45 degrees F) to warm (50-65 degrees F) annual thermoperiodic cycle; tolerates summer drought, but keep moist during fall and spring

Date Planted

Spring, 2018

Purchase Info

2017/2018 ?  Belgium

Progress

February 17, 2019

March 17, 2019

March 30, 2019

Diseases and Problems

PestsSusceptible to leaf and bud eelworms and damage from slugs

DiseasesMay be infected by powdery mildews

Cultivation  

Winter hardy to USDA Zones 7-10 where the tuberous rhizomes may be planted in the garden in fall about 2-3” deep and 4-6” apart in rich, sandy, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Cover the bed with mulch which should be removed in late winter. Several planting options exist for the St. Louis area. First, plant tubers in pots in fall for overwintering in frost free but cool areas (e.g., greenhouse, sunporch or cold frame), with pots being set out in early spring. Second, plant tubers in pots in early spring for a later May-June bloom. Finally, tuberous rhizomes can be dug up in fall for storage over winter, but this process does not always work well. Notwithstanding the foregoing, plants are short-lived and may be best grown in the nature of annuals by simply digging up and destroying the rhizomes each spring after flowering and purchasing new rhizomes each autumn.

Hardiness of USDA zones 7–10, preferring full sun to part shade. Although perennial in its native climate, A. coronaria is usually grown as an annual in cooler climates, from tubers. Planting is usually in the autumn if kept in pots in a greenhouse through the winter or in the ground in spring once the risk of frost has passed.

Plants go dormant after flowering.

Hardiness:Semi-hardy: injured below 28 degrees F (-2 degrees C) when planted

Storage: Store in dry peat moss at 50-55 dg. F

Uses

Borders and rock gardens. Good cut flower.