The "Fun" of Collecting Anemones, IV.- By wilheim Miller, 



THE JAPANESE ANEMONE, WHICH GIVES NEW LIFE AND COLOR TO WANING GARDENS IN 

 SEPTEMBER, AND FURNISHES ADMIRABLE FLOWERS FOR CUTTING AS LATE AS NOVEMBER 



New 



York 





WHEN the hundredth anniversary 

 of the introduction of Anemone 

 Japonica occurs in 1944, I hope that 

 event will be celebrated by giving every 

 human being in America a chance to grow 

 this lovely flower — not the coarse, old 

 pinkish-purple thing, but the white variety. 

 For I know no better symbol of purity. 

 No other flower has done so much to en- 

 noble American home life during the au- 

 tumn months. Chrysanthemums give more 

 gayety and color, and phlox contributes 

 more showiness; but neither of them can 

 compare in dignity 

 of bearing or interest 

 of leaf-form, nor can 

 they sound a note of 

 aspiration like the 

 chaste white flower 

 of the Japanese ane- 

 mone. 



Consider the per- 

 manence and econ- 

 omy of such a bed 

 of flowers as that on 

 page 113. Here we 

 have a mass that has 

 been undisturbed for 

 ten years! Compare 

 this with the trouble 

 of digging the ground 

 every spring to sow 

 annuals, or the cost 

 of buying pansies 

 and salvias every 

 year for a decade! 

 Yet there are mil- 

 lions of people who 

 have never gotten 

 beyond this first 

 crude idea of gar- 

 dening. It never 

 dawns on them that 

 the simpler way is 

 more artistic; that 

 hardy bedding is 

 better than tender 

 bedding. Unfortu- 

 nately some hardy 

 plants have uninter- 

 esting foliage, e. g. 

 phlox is common- 

 place and subject to 

 mildew, while chrys- 

 anthemums have 

 aphids and black 

 spots. But look at 

 the foliage in these 

 pictures. Wouldn't 

 you rather live with 

 a solid bed of that 

 for four months than 

 with a bed of coleus 

 or cannas? 



I can barely hint 

 atother artistic ways 



of using the Japanese anemone. One is 

 to associate it with architecture, as sug- 

 gested on page 114. Another way is use 

 it for edging shrubbery, in which case 

 some of the flowers will be beaten down 

 by heavy rains. However, this only adds 

 to the pictorial effect, provided the flowers 

 lie on the grass, instead of being spattered 

 by dirt. The wild gardener's way is to 

 plant the single varieties along woodland 

 walks and let them ramble at their own 

 sweet will, forming great self-supporting 

 colonies. Those half-developed people who 



Top row: Whirlwind, alba. Middle: Prince Henry, elegantissima. Bottom: Queen 



170 



use flowers only for cutting certainly 

 get their money's worth from the Japan 

 anemone; witness page 114. Everybody 

 can have one or two clumps of it in 

 his hardy border, but the effect is not 

 good when the plants are grown singly 

 here and there. It is a plant that requires 

 massing. A solid bed of it is the proper 

 thing in the garden, but in the middle of 

 the lawn there should be no beds. 



One cannot ruin a garden picture with 

 anemones as easily as with phlox or chry- 

 santhemums. The only color that makes 

 trouble is the old 

 rosy purple. The 

 white is, of course, a 

 harmonizer and 

 "lights the waning 

 garden with new life 

 and color." It is 

 sinful to stake ane- 

 mones and choke 

 them. (Seepage 114) 

 Better cut the flow- 

 ers or grow the dwarf 

 varieties. It is al- 

 most impossible to 

 get any bad effect 

 with the white ane- 

 mone because it re- 

 deems the most 

 commonplace sur- 

 roundings, especi- 

 ally in the early 

 morning and at dusk 

 when it is full of 

 mystery, charm, and 

 poetic suggestion — 

 even in a crowded 

 city. Witness page 

 114). 



The cultivation of 

 the Japanese ane- 

 mone is very simple 

 — just plant it and 

 leave it alone. Like 

 all autumn-bloom- 

 ing perennials it 

 should be planted in 

 spring — not fall. 

 There is little in- 

 ducement to raise it 

 from seed, because 

 you will have to 

 wait two years and 

 will get a lot of nasty 

 purples. It will do 

 well enough in any 

 soil, but the secret 

 of success is rich soil, 

 deep preparation , 

 and annual top- 

 dressing with strawy 

 manure after the 

 ground has frozen. 



Charlotte, rosea superba Frost does not harm 



