Anemone Blanda
📖 About this plant
Anemone Blanda, the Grecian Windflower, produces charming daisy-like flowers in vivid shades of blue, white, and pink above attractive fern-like foliage. The flowers have a simple, open form with bright yellow centers surrounded by broad petals, creating a cheerful, carefree display in early spring. The blue varieties (‘Blue Shades’) are particularly striking — producing a range of blue tones from electric azure to soft sky blue, sometimes on the same plant. At only 10-15 cm tall, Anemone Blanda is perfect for rock gardens, border edges, container plantings, and naturalizing under trees. The fern-like foliage remains attractive throughout the growing season, providing ground-cover interest even after flowering. These tough little tubers are remarkably cold-hardy and drought-tolerant once established.
🧑🌾 Care requirements
Full Sun to Partial Shade
Low to Moderate — drought-tolerant once established; avoid waterlogged soil
30-50%
Cool winters required — zones 4-9; adapts to a wide range of climates
Well-draining, moderately fertile, sandy loam; tolerates rocky and poor soils; pH 6.0-7.5
Light application of balanced bulb fertilizer in autumn at planting
📋 Plant facts
- 🌍 Origin
- Mediterranean region — southeastern Europe, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria
- 📏 Max height
- 10-15 cm (4-6 in)
- 📐 Spread
- 10-15 cm (4-6 in); slowly spreading clumps
- 🕰️ Bloom time
- Early to Mid-Spring (March-April)
- 🎨 Bloom color
- Blue (most popular), white, pink, and bicolors; daisy-like flowers with yellow centers
- 🍃 Foliage color
- Deeply divided, fern-like basal foliage, rich green
- ⏳ Lifespan
- Long-lived perennial tuber (many years; naturalizes well)
- 📈 Growth rate
- Moderate
- ☠️ Toxicity
- Mildly toxic — contains protoanemonin which can cause skin irritation, mouth blistering, and gastrointestinal upset if ingested
- 🌱 Propagation
- Tuber division in autumn when dormant; offsets develop naturally; seed takes 2-3 years to flower
🛡️ Health & Safety
Mildly toxic — contains protoanemonin which can cause skin irritation, mouth blistering, and gastrointestinal upset if ingested
Common issues
- Tubers can be tricky to plant — soak overnight and plant flat-side down, can be slow to establish in the first year, tuber rot in waterlogged soil, occasionally damaged by late frosts after emergence, slugs on new growth
💡 Care tips
- Soak hard, dry tubers in water for 24 hours before planting — they plump up dramatically. Plant 5-8 cm (2-3 in) deep. It's often hard to tell top from bottom — plant them on their side. For the most dramatic effect, plant in large drifts of 25+ tubers. 'Blue Shades' mixed variety gives a beautiful range of blue tones. Excellent for naturalizing in lawns and under deciduous trees. Pair with yellow daffodils and red tulips for a vibrant spring palette. Foliage provides good ground cover through summer. Deer and rabbit resistant.
