Japanese Anemone is a beautiful perennial plant from the Ranunculaceae family, which first came to Europe in the middle of the 19th century. Delicate flowers of this perennial on strong high peduncles enliven the autumn flowerbed with its bright colors. This plant quickly forms natural thickets and creates the effect of a wild corner in the garden.
Material Content:
Anemone Japanese: features of cultivation
People interested in growing anemones need to know some of the features of this plant:
- The flower requires mandatory watering in dry weather. The drying up of an earthen coma negatively affects growth and flowering, and overmoistening can lead to root rot. Therefore, it is important to find a middle ground.
- In severe frosts, perennials can freeze, so it needs to be covered for the winter.
- Anemone can grow in one place for many years and painfully transplanted. Therefore, replanting a bush to a new place is possible only after 5 years.
These are the main features. But each variety has its own requirements for planting and care, so you need to read about this separately.
Selection of planting material
Material for planting is best purchased in early spring in large specialized stores or garden centers. The tubers must be well dried, packaged and labeled by the manufacturer. The appearance of tubers is difficult to determine their quality, since they are all wrinkled and deformed.
To grow these flowers from seeds is quite problematic, since only every fourth seed sprouts. The seed should be freshly harvested, as over time the already low germination rate decreases even more.
Soil preparation, timing and planting rules
Japanese autumn anemone is a moody flower, so you need to choose the right place for planting. The plant does not tolerate the lack of moisture, and heavy soil, strong drafts and the scorching rays of the sun are fatal to it.
Proper planting is the key to health and lush flowering
The best choice is a spacious, open, slightly shaded area, where the sun's rays fall only in the morning. The soil should be loose, light, well-drained and fertile. If it does not meet these parameters, it needs to be dug up, fertilized with peat, humus or ash and loosened. On sandy, clayey and dense soils, the flower does not grow well.
Seed cultivation
Seeds need to be sown for seedlings about 4 weeks before the expected arrival of heat and melting snow. In each region, these terms may vary. In order for the seeds to swell, they are mixed with moistened sand and left for 3-4 days, constantly monitoring humidity. The swollen seeds are poured into a small tray with peat and gently mixed. The tray is placed in a cool place and left to germinate. As soon as the first shoots appear, the box is taken out into the street directly in the snow and sprinkled with sawdust. In spring, hardened seedlings are planted in the ground.
Tuber growing
The selected tubers are placed in a basin and poured with warm water. Such a procedure will help them wake up to life. The edges of the roots can be trimmed so that they are accepted faster, but this is not necessary. After 4 hours, the prepared material is planted to a depth of 5 cm in prepared pots with sand and peat. Sprouted tubers are transplanted to a flower bed in the recesses with a diameter of 30 cm and a depth of 15 cm, while the soil needs to be well compacted and plentifully watered. The distance between plants should be at least 0.5 m, since then the bushes grow very much, and they do not have enough space.
Outdoor Anemone Care
If the landing was made correctly, then in the future care of the anemone does not bring any special difficulties.
Watering should be moderate, in no case should drying out or waterlogging of the soil be allowed. In spring and autumn, the flower is quite natural moisture, so in most cases, watering is necessary only in the summer. As a rule, watering is carried out in the morning or in the evening, after sunset. So that the soil does not dry out, it is advisable to cover it with mulch - shredded grass, leaves, peat or tree bark. Especially good is mulch from the leaves of broad-leaved trees, which imitates forest litter, and this is a prerequisite for the growth of anemone in nature. Mulching eliminates the constant loosening of the soil, as the soil constantly remains slightly moist and not covered with a hard crust.
A layer of mulch with a thickness of more than 5 cm does not allow weeds to germinate. Weeds breaking through this barrier should be removed manually so as not to damage the roots.
After flowering, the stems must be shortened to the ground, without cutting the basal leaves. To protect the plant from frost, you need to sprinkle the earth around it with a layer of mulch at least 15 cm and cover with branches. Varieties with low frost resistance are best dug up for the winter and stored in a cool place in a box with the ground.
Even if the plant is frozen, no need to worry. It is highly likely that young shoots will grow out of the buds of renewal quite soon.
Reproduction Anemones
This perennial spreads very quickly over the site, so it is easiest to propagate it by processes. To do this, in spring, you need to separate the sprout that has appeared along with part of the rhizome and transfer to another place.
The plant can also be grown from seeds or tubers. The first method is quite laborious, and the second gives the opportunity to admire the flowering of the bush already this year. Planting can be done both in spring and autumn, but in the first case, rooting is much better.
The main problems when growing a flower
Do not plant anemone directly under the trees. The flower needs sunlight, besides, it does not withstand competition in the struggle for nutrients, so the powerful roots of the trees quickly absorb them.Even if the plant takes root in such a place, it is unlikely that it can bloom.
If the bushes are not fed, they will bloom poorly. Therefore, you should adhere to the feeding schedule:
- in the spring - with organic fertilizers;
- during the formation of buds - mineral complexes;
- in early October - with ash or any fertilizer without nitrogen.
In winter, the bushes can be covered with a thin layer of rotted manure. In this case, in the spring you can do without fertilizing. It is impossible to use fresh manure, it violates the acid balance of the soil, and this is bad for plants. Thanks to timely top dressing, the buds will be larger, the flowers bright, and the stems strong.
Pests and diseases
Most of all the perennial suffers from the invasion of slugs and caterpillars. It is also prone to fungal and nematode diseases. Most often, plants in group plantings are sick. Single bushes get sick much less often. It is better to destroy the plants strongly affected by the leaf nematode right away, and as a preventive measure, completely replace the soil in this place.
Read also:goof plant
To protect against garden pests, perennials should be periodically sprayed with a solution of metaldehyde. If there are few slugs and caterpillars, it’s easier to assemble them manually. As a prevention of fungal diseases, a little sea salt or sand can be added to the soil.
Japanese anemone is a grassy plant for open ground. It creates a beautiful green background from its foliage for other flowers throughout the summer, and in the fall pleases with abundant and bright flowering.
