The "Fun" of Collecting Anemones, I.— By wilhelm Miller, 



THE HERALDS OF SPRING IN WOODS, ROCKS AND GARDENS — CHARMING LITTLE WIND- 

 FLOWERS THAT BRAVE THE SNOW AND "TAKE THE WINDS OF MARCH WITH BEAUTY" 



New 

 York 



[Editor's Note — This new series is designed especially for beginners who would like to become collectors, 

 was published in January.] 



V\/ON'T you please describe all the 



* * anemones worth growing," writes 

 an enthusiast with more wealth than 

 prudence, "and tell me where I can buy 

 every kind there is? I am smitten with 

 their beauty and I want to have the most 

 complete collection in the world. And, 

 between you and me, I want to set back 

 and , two neighbors who set them- 

 selves up for little tin gods, because they 

 collect cannas and dahlias. Cannas and 

 dahlias! Ugh!" 



Bless your innocent heart! You will 

 have to buy about one hundred different 

 kinds, employ a private secretary to 

 send for them, a gardener to label and grow 

 them, a card index system to record them, 

 many flower beds, a rock garden, a piece of 

 woods, and three years' time. Wouldn't 

 flying be a cheaper sport for you? " 



It is so easy to ask such a question! 

 But it takes years to answer it. One 

 ought to study the literature, visit the 

 herbaria, grow the plants, gather the 

 pictures, correspond with experts, and 

 even then a man cannot get all the varie- 

 ties, or find out how best to grow them. 

 Never mind, my Enthusiast, we expect to 

 hear no more from you for several months. 

 If you send postals to half the list we 

 gave you, you will be buried in an ava- 

 lanche of European and American cata- 

 logues. 



But, airy persiflage aside, I admire 

 your taste and hope to give you what 

 you want in four installments, because 



there are four groups of anemones, based 

 upon the season of bloom. 



Group i. The Heralds of Spring, 

 which bloom before the last snows, in 

 March or April, the most familiar examples 

 being the diminutive hepaticas and pasque 

 flowers. 



Group n. The Spring Windflowers, 

 which glorify the month of May, especially 

 the garden anemones (A. hortensis and 

 coronaria), which are famous for their gor- 

 geous reds and blues. 



Group hi. The Summer Windflowers, 

 which bloom in June, July or August — 

 all white flowers, and usually three on a 

 stem, whereas in the preceding groups 

 there is generally only one flower on a 

 stem. Example, the Pennsylvanian or 

 Canadian windflower. 



Group iv. The Autumn Windflowers, 

 of which the celebrated Japanese anemone 

 is the chief species. 



Only the heralds of spring will be treated 

 in this article. There are fifteen species 

 of them worth growing and all but one 

 are still catalogued as anemones by nursery- 

 men, but the botanists now place them in 

 four different genera. To clear the decks 

 for action let us see just why they do this: 



Styles long, becoming feathery in 



fruit Pulsatilla. 



Styles short, glabrous or pubescent 



Involucre remote from the calyx Anemone. 



Involucre of three simple leaves close 

 under the flower Hepatica. 



Involucre of three compound leaves Syndesmon. 



The first article, " The Fun of Collecting Aroids," 



But, while these botanical distinctions 

 are important enough to constitute sepa- 

 rate genera, all these heralds of spring 

 should be considered as one horticultural 

 group. They are not for show. They 

 can never vie with daffodils, which they 

 precede little, if any. Their mission is to 

 stir the heart and make us rejoice that 

 winter is really past. Not one of them 

 is as large as a crocus, or has as wide a 

 range of color. And yet they have an 

 irresistible appeal. So long as men cheer 

 any plucky little chap who fights against 

 great odds, so long they will thrill at the 

 sight of these game little flowers that look 

 so fragile and are so hardy. 



hepaticas have the most colors 



The best of this group, in my opinion r 

 are the hepaticas. For in the first place,, 

 they are generally the first wildflowers of 

 the year in America, if we omit the skunk 

 cabbage. Second, they are unique in 

 having evergreen leaves of great beauty. 

 And, most important of all, they have the 

 widest range of color of all the plants 

 mentioned in this article. You can buy 

 the blue, purple, pink, or white in single 

 or double forms. That makes eight va- 

 rieties, and all are better than any you can 

 collect. There is also the sharp-lobed 

 hepatica (H. acutiloba) in as many colors. 

 And finally there is the great hepatica 

 (H. angulosa), a European species grow- 

 ing nine inches high and having flowers as 

 large as a half dollar. This species is also 



The American wood anemone (A. quinquefolia) is 

 a trifle smaller than the European, but cheaper 



American pasaue flower, blooming in April amid the 

 snow. Nurserymen call it A. patens, var. Nuttalliana 



15 



The rue anemone usually has more than one 

 flower on a stem 



