Anemone Black and White corms
Anemones are beautiful garden plants. Besides the Japanese anemone that blooms in autumn, you also have an anemone that blooms in spring! This anemone is also very suitable as a cut flower.
Anemones are grown in the same way as ranunculus. Their different leaf structure makes them more hardy and easier to grow than Ranunculus. The anemone plant keeps producing new flowers, one after the other for 6 to 8 weeks. Depending on how happy your plant is it can grow up to 20 flowers.

You can start anemones in the autumn in September and October and early in the year around the end of January until mid-February. Usually, the autumn planted anemone grows a little taller but may require more care during cold spells. If your spring is relatively warm (20°C or more) you have to start anemones in autumn because they are cool-weather plants.

If you like to grow them together you can sign up for a free e-mail course. We will grow the anemones together with the ranunculus. You can sign up for October, February, or both.

Planting information to grow anemone black and white:
Plant type: half-hardy annual or short-lived perennial
Height: 40 – 50 centimeters
Position: full sun or partial share
Start: autumn and/or late winter
Number of days until plants bloom: 90-100 days
Distance between the plants: 25-30 centimeters
Germination: 14 days at 15-18 °C
Pinching: no
Flowers: March to June depending on the weather
Number of corms  per pack: 12, medium size
Number of flowers: 10 – 20 depending on the growing conditions

How do you grow anemones?

Anemones can be grown from seed or corm. Most growers only grow anemones from corms. First of all, you need to think about your growing climate. Anemones flower in cool spring temperatures and die back when it warms up (above 25°C), just like tulips. If your spring is warm you have to start your anemones in the fall because plants can grow all winter and flower in early spring.

A second thing to keep in mind is the hardiness of anemones. The plants can handle up to -10°C for a short period. If your winters can be cold and a lot of snow is not uncommon you can not start your corms in the fall, you can only start them in late winter. If you live in a climate like ours (The Netherlands) you can start your anemones in the fall but they may need extra protection. We cover the plants with a layer of fleece frost protection then a cold spell is predicted. But because our spring is relatively cold we can also start them in late winter (February) and plant them out in March without protection.

Just like a tulip bulb the corm of the anemone can rot. If your soil is heavy and not free draining you might want to wait until the soil is a bit dried before you plant out your plants. You can grow anemones in pots but they need to be large and you can not put too many in one pot. Number one mistake. The plants still look small and you want your pots to look nice and full but you forget that they will grow a lot when spring starts! The soil in pots also warms up faster in the sun.

How do you start anemones?

You start anemones by soaking them in water for 6 to 8 hours. When you get the corms they are dried for good storage. To wake them up you soak them and they become a lot bigger. They might look small when they arrive but once they start growing you will see that the corm becomes at least 2 to 3 times the original size.

After you soaked the corms plant them in potting soil with perlite. Free draining and airy soil are important to prevent rotting. We use the high 40 cells tray for spring-started corms and the 28-deep-cell propagation tray if we grow them over winter in our greenhouse. You can also use the P9 plant pots or the 15 cell large tray. Anemones grow a lot of roots and don’t do well when they are root bound. Plant them with the pointy size down.

Store your planted corms in a room or cellar where you can keep the temperature between 10°C and 15°C. It takes around 2 weeks for the corms to start growing. Once you see the first shoots coming up you can grow them on a greenhouse or other light place but not on a windowsill. A greenhouse, propagator, grow tent, grow rack with plastic cover, or polytunnel is ideal. Fresh corms can be eaten by rodents! Once the corms have grown leaves and roots it’s no longer an issue.

Plant them out in free-draining soil when the plants have filled their cell or pot. If your winters are cold you need to cover the plants with frost protection below -8°C. The foliage might collapse but will recover again. The flowers can not withstand frost. If it happens, cut the flower back and a new bud will be formed.