The first mild week of March, when the hazel catkins are out and the ground has stopped being frozen, is when wood anemones earn their place. A patch of them under a deciduous tree looks like spilled milk — white stars held a few inches above the leaf litter, wide open in the sun and closed into tight buds by late afternoon. They are not difficult plants. They are particular about a few things, though: when you plant them, how deep you plant them, and what the soil does in winter. Get those right and a modest handful of bare-root rhizomes will quietly spread into a colony that outlasts most of the shrubs you planted with them.

Start With Bare-Root Rhizomes, Not Potted Plants

Wood anemones are sold either as potted plants in spring, usually already in flower, or as bare-root rhizomes in late summer and autumn. The second option is cheaper, establishes more readily and comes in far more varieties. A rhizome looks like a short, knobbly brown twig, roughly the thickness of a pencil, with a growing tip at one end and fine roots along the underside.

Buy from a specialist woodland-plant nursery rather than lifting plants from a wild colony. Digging anemones from a wood is illegal in many places, damages slow-growing habitat, and the plants rarely settle anyway.

• Firm and plump — not shrivelled or hollow.
• Damp, not wet or mouldy. No grey fuzz or soft brown patches.
• An intact growing tip and a few live roots.
• Freshly lifted. Rhizomes lose viability quickly once they dry out.

Order in late summer for delivery in early autumn and plant within a few days of arrival. If you cannot, wrap them in slightly damp leaf mould or vermiculite and keep them cool and dark. Do not soak them overnight; that is one of the quickest ways to rot a rhizome.

Prepare the Soil Before the Rhizomes Arrive

Wood anemones want what a woodland floor offers: humus-rich soil that stays moist from late winter into early summer, drains freely the rest of the year, and never sits waterlogged. Slightly acid to neutral suits them. They tolerate a good deal of shade, but flower best where they catch a few hours of filtered sun in early spring, before the tree canopy closes over.

Prepare the ground a fortnight ahead. Clear ivy, matted leaves and perennial weeds — couch grass and ground elder will out-compete young plants. Fork over the top 15 cm without turning the soil upside down, then work in a generous layer of leaf mould or well-rotted garden compost. Both hold moisture without becoming soggy.

Skip the fresh manure and the general-purpose fertiliser. These are woodland plants that evolved on a slow trickle of decaying leaves, and rich feeding pushes soft, floppy growth.

If the ground is dry shade

Under conifers, dense holly or a mature sycamore, the soil can be dust-dry by June. Anemones will survive but rarely spread. Plant at the drip line of a deciduous tree instead, or improve a dry patch with two or three years of leaf mould and work at the edges of the root zone, where the tree's roots are less greedy.

How Deep to Plant — and Which Way Up

This is where most first attempts fail. Lay each rhizome horizontally, roots downward and the growing tip lying level, then cover it with roughly 2–3 cm of soil — about the depth of your first knuckle. A light covering is plenty.

Rhizomes planted 8 or 10 cm deep often produce leaves but few flowers, and may vanish altogether. On heavy clay, err on the shallower side and plant on a slight ridge so water cannot pool around the rhizome.

Space plants 10–15 cm apart. They knit together within a few seasons, and crowding only makes it harder to see which ones have taken. Water the patch gently afterwards so the soil settles without compacting.

Water, Mulch and the Summer Sleep

Keep the area moist through autumn and spring while the leaves are growing. In a normal year the weather handles this. In a dry spring, one slow soak a week is worth more than a daily sprinkle.

Let the foliage die down naturally in early summer. Wood anemones are spring ephemerals: they flower, set seed and disappear underground by June or July. Yellowing leaves are not a problem, and cutting them off early starves the rhizome for next year's flowers.

Once the leaves are gone the plant is dormant, and the soil around it may safely dry out. Watering a dormant anemone achieves nothing except encouraging rot. Top-dress with a thin layer of leaf mould in autumn, no more than 2 cm, and let the tree's own fallen leaves lie where they land.

A few reliable varieties

• Anemone nemorosa — the native white form, best for naturalising.
• 'Robinsoniana' — soft lavender-blue, slightly larger flowers.
• 'Vestal' — double white, neat and long-lasting.
• 'Allenii' — pale blue and vigorous.

Plant in Drifts, Not Dots

Wood anemones look their best in loose drifts of twenty or more, allowed to merge with snowdrops, cyclamen, pulmonaria, epimedium and ferns. These companions also cover the gap the anemones leave in summer, so you are not staring at bare soil from July onwards.

Slugs nibble the first shoots in a wet spring, and voles occasionally disturb new rhizomes. Neither usually warrants drastic action; a few slug traps or a torchlight patrol in March is enough.

A First-Autumn Plan You Can Follow

Order rhizomes in late summer. Clear and improve the soil in September. Plant 2–3 cm deep, 10–15 cm apart, in dappled shade under a deciduous tree. Water once, mulch lightly, then leave the patch alone through winter. Mark the spot with a discreet label, because come March you will have forgotten exactly where they went — and that is precisely the moment you will want to know.

Photo: Andy Stevens / Pexels