Forest anemone: description, planting and care

The forest anemone is a primrose that blooms in spring. Its second name is anemone (from Latin anemos means "wind"). The plant is listed in the Red Book, since it is slowly disappearing from our planet. Meeting an anemone in the wild is considered a sign of good luck, and seeing beautiful flowers swaying in the wind with a lush carpet is a pleasure in itself. That is why many gardeners delight themselves by choosing an anemone as a plant for their site.

The forest anemone is a perennial herb that belongs to the Buttercup family. The root system of the plant is a large rhizome; for the winter it remains in the ground, successfully transferring frosts.

The anemone reaches a height of 25 cm, but there are also flowers that grow up to 40. The leaves are located at the top, the lower part of the stem is bare. Notches can be found at the edges of the foliage, and the color varies by region. Basically, the leaves of anemones have a bright green color.

As for the flowers, they are very delicate, as a rule, white, although artificially bred varieties can even have blue or purple colors. The middle of the flower will be bright yellow, each specimen has 6 petals. There is only one flower on one stem.

The forest anemone blooms in mid-May and blooms for about a month. When July rolls around, the grower can start collecting the seeds of the plant. In August, the anemone blooms again. However, it is worth remembering that when grown in a garden, flowers do not bloom immediately, in the first year. Usually, the first flowering can be achieved only by the third year after planting.

The description of such an interesting plant as the forest anemone will not be complete without mentioning its beneficial properties. In culture, there are many acids, vitamin C, which is why it is so often used in decoctions and infusions. It is an excellent bactericidal, anti-inflammatory and sedative agent. However, if you decide to prepare a decoction yourself, it is better to first consult with a herbalist. After all, anemone is poisonous, and its uncontrolled use can lead to unpredictable consequences.

In the wild, the forest anemone is found on the plains and hills, abundantly covering them with a carpet of delicate, delicate flowers. It can also be found near cliffs, in meadows and forest glades. In settlements, anemone practically does not grow.

As for the habitats, we can safely say that wild anemones are widespread in Belarus, Ukraine, and Yakutia. Grows abundantly in the Caucasus, in the Smolensk and Amur regions. Quite often, anemone can be found in some regions of Siberia, as well as in the Moscow region.

If you want to grow an anemone on your site, then first you need to properly prepare it.

The first step is to choose a place. Let's make a reservation right away that it should only be open ground, because due to the peculiarities of the root system, the plant will not be able to grow in a tub or pot. The landing site should not be in a draft; partial shade is also very important.

The forest anemone prefers soft, loose, well-aerated soils. but it is unpretentious and may well grow on sandy.

As neighbors to the culture, you can pick up cherries, mountain ash, sea buckthorn trees. The culture gets along well with buttercups.

Before planting, the soil must be properly prepared:

• in October, the earth is dug up, feeding with organic fertilizers;
• if the soil is heavy, loosen it well, and then add a small amount of sand;
• acidic soils should be liming.

In addition, it is important for the gardener to take care that there is no stagnant water. For this, the landing site must be "supplied" with drainage. These can be pebbles, broken bricks, and other popular varieties.

There are several ways to plant and propagate an anemone. Rhizome planting is most often used. The planting material is examined for diseases, the unsuitable one is discarded, and then wrapped in a cloth dipped in growth stimulants (one of the best is "Epin"). When about eight hours have passed, the tubers will need to be removed and placed in a container with moistened river sand.

From above it is covered with glass, which must be removed from time to time so that the planting material can access oxygen. In 10-11 days, seedlings will already appear. The tubers are carefully dug up and planted in pots. When the thickets pass, the plants are planted in open ground.

We will talk about other methods of planting and breeding below.

In addition to planting with rhizomes, there are three more methods available to gardeners:

• plots;
• seeds;
• seedlings.

To succeed in this technique, the strongest and most beautiful bush is dug up. Its root will need to be divided into five equal parts, and the bush will need to be buried back. The plots are treated with stimulants, and then planted in a previously prepared soil, consisting of sand and peat. After that, the planting material is watered and covered with glass or film. The container is transferred to a warm place.

Every three days, the shelter will need to be removed to water the plots. As soon as you see the first shoots, you will need to water more often. And when the roots appear, the shelter is removed. Anemones obtained in this way are planted the next year.

Forest anemone can be successfully grown from seeds, but it is important to take into account that it will bloom no earlier than in the third year. The method is incredibly easy: you just need to sprinkle the seeds in the selected area, and then cover them with a 15 cm layer of straw. This is done at the very end of autumn. Thus, the seeds will "reach" themselves and next year you will have wonderful shoots without any effort.

If the first few methods do not suit you, or you are not looking for easy ways, then you can always use the seedling technique, which includes several important steps. Let's consider this method in detail.

1. The first step is to prepare the ground (all preparatory activities are carried out in winter). As in the case of plots, it will be a mixture of river sand and peat. For each part of the seeds, there should be about three parts of the substrate. The soil is mixed with seeds and moistened abundantly.
2. The resulting mixture is placed on the bottom of the container, ideally if it is a spacious wooden box. It is moistened once a day, but you cannot water it, it is better to use a spray bottle.
3. After a while, the seeds will slightly increase in size, swell. This means that you need to cover them with soil consisting of garden soil and humus in equal proportions. The thickness of the new coating is no more than 3 centimeters.
4. The finished boxes need to be moved to a cool place where the temperature will not rise above 5 degrees Celsius.
5. In a couple of weeks, sprouts will hatch.The boxes with seeds will need to be taken out into the street, covered with snow or cool soil. Next, a ten-centimeter layer of sawdust is placed on the ground.
6. In this position, the box remains for 1-2 months. Then it is removed from under the snow or soil and brought back into the house.
7. When the second leaf appears on the sprout, you can plant the seedlings in a permanent place.

See below for more details.

Anemone is a favorite flower among gardeners, not only because of its beauty and sophistication. It is also very unpretentious to care for, so it can be grown even by novice gardeners. Basic care includes several positions.

In the wild, there can be different situations: both heavy rains and periods of prolonged drought. Anemone successfully copes with everything, but it is undesirable to experiment on the site.

After watering, the soil cannot be loosened: the root system of the plant is shallow, and you can easily damage it. All weeds are removed by hand. In addition, one should not forget that everything should be in moderation, so there is no need to fill the plants either. An abundance of water will lead to decay and the formation of fungus.

For the first year and a half, you don't have to think about top dressing at all: the forest anemone will extract everything it needs from the soil itself. Then, when buds begin to form, you can apply liquid organic fertilizer... To do this, 1 kg of manure must be diluted in 10 liters of water (one bucket) and defended for 7 days. After that, a liter is taken from the bucket and re-diluted at 10. You can water, while you need to pour only at the root.

If you don't want to mess with manure and wait for the mixture to infuse, you can always turn to mineral complexes, they are even more effective. Any complexes for buttercups are suitable, instructions for them are always indicated on the packages. Such dressings are also used during the ovary period, as well as during flowering.

Advice: do not exceed the rate indicated in the instructions. Do not think that the more, the better and more abundantly the anemone will bloom. On the contrary, the abundance of dressings and their incorrect calculation will lead to a complete cessation of flowering.

If the winters in your area are characterized by a small amount of snow, then the anemone most likely will not survive them. The rhizome should be dug up and placed in a container filled with sand. It must be stored at a low temperature, but dry, otherwise it will rot. In the spring, the material is taken out and wrapped in a damp cloth. After several hours, they are planted in open ground.

In the case of snowy winters, you do not need to worry about the plant. The forest anemone is cut under the spine and covered with spruce branches.

The forest anemone is a very disease-resistant plant, it is extremely rarely affected. But a few common diseases are worth examining.

• Sclerotiniasis, aka white rot. It provokes rotting of the roots, as a result of which absolutely all plants can die. They fight like this: the already affected specimens are dug up, the rest are treated with the "Rovral" agent.
• Anthracnose. A disease of a fungal nature, because of it, the plants are deformed, stunted, the leaves become curly. "Euparen" helps well against this ailment.
• Gray rot. A dangerous and very harmful disease, due to which stems rot and become watery. Spreads rapidly in warmth and humidity. As with white rot, diseased plants must be uprooted, and the remaining ones are recommended to be sprayed with "Rovral", "Skor" or "Fundazol".

As you can see, anemone diseases are quite unpleasant, but even worse when pests appear on the site. One of them is the leaf nematode, which is very difficult to get rid of.Under the influence of a nematode, dry spots appear on the foliage, which over time increase in size, causing the death of the culture.

Another pest that gardeners dislike is the slug. Slugs prefer dark, secluded places where there is a lot of moisture. Their presence can be easily guessed from the footprints they leave as they crawl to plants for food. There are several successful ways to deal with them.

• Scatter something sharp near the plants, something that easily injures the soft abdomen of the parasite. It can be crushed eggshells, gravel, sand, even washing powder.
• Use traps. For example, slugs can easily fall into small yogurt cups or bowls filled with wine, juice or lemonade. Do not forget to just cover the container so that the bees do not flock to the bait.

Despite the fact that the anemone fades rather quickly, during its heyday it is able to outshine the rest of the garden culture. They look great under the trees, giving the feeling that you are in some kind of fairy forest. Exquisite forest anemones can easily decorate paths and benches, the garden will look airy and ephemeral.

Anemones go very well with buttercups, primroses, peonies. The combination with tulips and irises, as well as small flowers of bright shades, looks no less impressive. And the anemones themselves do not have to be white. For example, in the design of flower beds, delicate lilac varieties of culture are often used.