Snowdrops invasive?
Hellebore surprise in the Pennsylvania woods

Woodland native that's good in the garden

Anemonella thalictroides growing in an unexpectedly damp place. Image ©GardenPhotos.com
Off out for my daily, cardiologist prescribed walk in the Pennsylvania woods yesterday, I came across two plants - uneaten by the deer that abound in this area – that while interesting to see in the woods are also good to grow in the garden.

The rue anemone, Anemonella thalictroides, is a lovely spring ephemeral, and a familiar native here in eastern North America where it’s often known as Thalictrum thalictroides - literally, the thalictrum that looks like a thalictrum. Surely that must mean that it’s an absolutely typical Thalictrum and meaning, I suppose, that all the other thalictrums are very definitely different.

Well, long ago that was the opinion. But in Europe and the rest of the world it’s now known as Anemonella thalictroides – in fact it’s considered so different from other thalictrums that it deserves a genus all of its own! This is a case of botanical science moving on and gardeners and botanists around the world taking their time to catch up.

Anyway, I was surprised to see it growing in soggy saturated soil by the side of a small stream as in these parts it’s usually seen in much drier conditions, such as trailside banks and rain-sheltered slopes.

You can see the wild plants I came across yesterday at the top (click to enlarge) but it’s true to say that their flowering season is very short – ephemeral indeed, so less useful in gardens. But like so many plants in the buttercup family - delphiniums, hellebores etc – there are many variants of Anemonella thalictroides and the double flowered forms make far better garden plants that the wild form as they bloom for so much longer.

‘Oscar Schoaf’ (below, click to enlarge) is a good example: not only are its flowers a rich pink, unlike the white or blush shade of wild forms, but they’re fully double so have more impact and last far longer than single forms. The problem is that plants are hard to come by, and they can be expensive. Propagation is by division - by scalpel!

Anemonella 'Schoaf's-Double' blooms for longer than the wild species. Image ©GardenPhotos.com

Oh. I seem to have run out of time for discussing the other US native perennial that was such a standout – next time.




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