Wood anemones are spring jewels

The garden starts on the ground early in the year, under the shade of deciduous shrubs and trees.

The first snowdrop may well be out at Christmas, but in April there are still plenty of jewels to come and the show carries on until the end of May.

It’s not surprising then, that my favourite bit of the garden is the woodland border. It lies on one side of a low stone wall, and a spring gurgles out the other side, so in certain areas it lies wet in winter. Bulbous plants, such as snowdrops, have dwindled away the damper areas. However, other plants, such as the wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa, have thrived on plenty of moisture and cool shade. If I’m lucky, I’ll get 10 to 14 days from my carpet of dainty nodding flowers.

The wood anemone is a British native found throughout the country and also in Ireland. It produces fleshy, knobbly roots and the ordinary native spreads slowly, so slowly it is used to date ancient woodland. In Gloucestershire, pure-white forms grow alongside the wild daffodil.

The white form is also prevalent in Warwickshire. However, there are pink-backed, white forms in Oxfordshire and one has been named ‘Westwell Pink’ after the village, or perhaps the garden, near Burford. In Ireland, where the soil is acid, there are blue clones and luckily they produce blue flowers in any soil.

There are a lot of garden forms and they seem more vigorous than our native. Most of mine have made clumps 2ft (60cm) across, despite being planted only six or seven years ago. They vary greatly in size and form, especially the foliage, so they probably have hybrid vigour and may contain other spring-time species, possibly A. appenina and A. blanda, in their heritage. I have more than 30 different ones, in shades of pink, blue and white, but certain forms stand out and these are often the easier ones.

Blue wood anemones are the strong-est of all in constitution, so start with these. ‘Robinsoniana’ is an early-flowering, large-flowered grey-blue that everyone should grow. It’s said to have been discovered in the Botanic Garden in Oxford by William Robinson (1838-1935) in 1870. It had apparently been sent from Ireland and one wonders whether William Robinson had sent it himself as this Irishman began his career in Dublin. By 1870, though, Robinson was working at the Botanic Garden at Regent’s Park in London, specialising in wild flowers.

We will never know quite how ‘Robinsoniana’ arrived, but the mauve backs to the pale-blue petals make it very special. Probably my favourite true-blue is ‘Allenii’ because the late flowers have almost purple backs. It came from the Shepton Mallet garden of James Allen (1832-1906), a man mainly famous for breeding snowdrops. Wood anemones only open wide in full sun, so these attractive backs can often be seen on duller days. ‘Bowles’s Purple’ is a darker colour and the flowers have rounded petals. There are white forms too and the double white ‘Vestal’, which is always one of the last here, has neatly formed flowers. The earliest of all for me are the pink-backed ones and one of the best is called ‘Bill Baker’s Pink’.

The best way to start them off is to buy potfuls in flower, from nurseries like Avondale Nurseries. Co-owner Brian Ellis holds a National Collection. After that, clumps can be divided in October, just as these plants break into growth, although I leave mine to fill in the gaps between hellebores, erythroniums and trilliums. They happily fit round things without threatening them.

Supplier: Avondale Nursery (www.avondalenursery.co.uk/ 07979 093 096) based at Russell’s Nursery in Baginton. Coventry, CV8 3AG.