European wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) is originally from Europe and Asia, but has found homes with gardeners all through the temperate regions of the world. Few shade or alpine gardens do not have one or more selections of this anemone, and for good reason.
Their home is on the floor of deciduous forests where they form drifts. While not invasive, they are assertive, forming luxurious ground-covers beneath small trees and shrubs, wandering around and through larger perennials. This habit is from rootstock that in spreading continually forms short branches. The roots resemble short brown sticks with pale eyes of whitish-tan growing just beneath the leaf litter in the top inch or two of soil. They also spread by ephemeral seed.
Foliage is about six to eight inches in height. The medium-green leaves are on long stems, coming in three-part, deeply cut, sections. Foliage emerges quickly once the first green noses break the surface. They need to complete their cycle while the best nutrients, moisture, and light are available as the plant goes dormant in early July.
Blooms are just above the foliage and numerous, putting on quite a show for the time they have available and seed set is generally generous. Anemone nemorosa is quite variable in bloom color, ranging from pristine white through lavender, blue and pink. One of my favorites happens to be a naturally occurring hybrid. A. intermedia, sometimes called A. x seemannii, is a cross between a white A. nemorosa and the yellow A. ranunculoides. The end result is a lovely flower of pale sulfur-yellow. The soft- yellow hue of bloom color is the perfect companion to a dark colored flower of garden hybrid hellebore.
Helleborus x garden hybrid is often referred to as lenten rose. Evergreen and active in growth throughout the winter, it can be counted upon for four-season display garden. In an open position where the plant is fully exposed to all the elements, the foliage gets ratty over winter here, but replaces the old and weathered with fresh, bright green each time the weather warms a bit. In a protected spot the large saw-toothed leaves are even more handsome. Size can vary from selection to selection, but in general a garden hybrid reaches about eighteen inches by two to three feet in diameter over the years. Any plant that can perform well as an evergreen in the mid-west deserves to be on a gardener's short list.
Blooms are shaped like bowls, having large yellow boss in the center, usually somewhat nodding, and what looks like petals are actually sepals. Because of this feature the individual flowers can last up to six or eight weeks. Even when the sepals loose color and go over to green they still present quite a display with the large seed capsules in the center. Buds form on stems separate from stems for foliage. Brushing away mulch in early March one can see the buds formed in a crown waiting to come on stage.
The deep plum color bloom is among my favorites. As with all dark colored blooms, they need to be up close to be fully appreciated. Too far back and the blooms get lost visually.
The soft sulfur-yellow of the Anemone `Palladia' and the deep plum of this hellebore combine to enhance each other at a time when not much else is up and in bloom. Anemone nemorosa has numerous bloom colors to collect, as does the garden hybrid hellebore, so almost any combination of colors could be used. A soft blue-blooming anemone with a clean white hellebore, for instance, may be my next combination of these two beauties.