Tenpetal anemone (thimbleflower) (Anemone berlandieri)—200 seeds

—tenpetal anemone (thimbleflower), ten-petal anemone, eastern prairie anemone, southern windflower (Anemone berlandieri)—flowering spring perennial

—Size: 2-8” (flower stem—6-20”) tall by 4-6” wide

—Site: full sun to part-shade

—USDA Hardiness Zones: 7-9

—To Propagate: 30 days cold, moist stratification.

A spring ephemeral, tenpetal anemone emerge in late winter with just a few deeply cut basal leaves. A few short weeks later a long, mostly bare, flower stem emerges elongating after pollination to disperse its seeds. The flower bud is tinges with purple on the outside of the sepals—tenpetal anemone has no true petals—which opens to reveal the purest white flower. Tenpetal anemones can actually have between 7-25 sepals and we have found that ~1 in 1,000 flowers open to a varying shade of blue, violet, or pink as shown in the images.

A relatively common native flower from the southeast to Kansas found in prairies, glades, roadsides, lawns, and cemeteries adding cheery charm from late winter to early spring tolerant of almost all growing conditions except standing water. A grouping of plants will offer blooms for a two-to-three-week period. The flowers mature to a cylindrical seed head followed by woolly-covered seeds.

This is one of those welcome early season flowers, putting on an early show when the garden is just waking up. Best of all tenpetal anemone then goes dormant as if to make way for the robust perennials of spring and summer which take center. Because of its unimposing presence tenpetal anemone adds interest and extends the garden season at the front end without demanding space or attention—in fact, one of the best uses of tenpetal anemone is in those bare spaces between perennials and annuals where it acts as a show-stopping filler before its robust neighbors mature.

Plants form a tuber making this plant one of the easiest plants to transplant after they go dormant—in fact, this plant can be grown in much colder climates if the tuber is lifted in the fall and stored as one would with dahlias.

Note: If you order more than one lot of one species of seeds, for example, you place two orders of 100 seeds we assume you want 200 seeds and your order will be sent in one seed packet.