In this part of the world, we have paid for the recent mild winter with a long, erratically cool spring.\u00a0 Since March first, I think we have had more snow in the forecast\u2014though not on the ground\u2014than we did during the months of November, December and January combined.<\/p>\n
The daffodils, hyacinths and tulips are made of the kind of strong stuff that enabled them to ignore the forecasts and put on a fine show.\u00a0 I am made of strong, hopeful stuff and faced down a gale-force windstorm to get to the garden center for some pansies.\u00a0 This is an annual ritual during which I follow in the horticultural footsteps of my father. \u00a0He didn\u2019t particularly love pansies, but in the neighborhood where I grew up, all decent people put containers of pansies on their porches or front stoops in early spring.\u00a0 The pansies stayed put until they were replaced by red geraniums around Memorial Day.\u00a0 On or about Labor Day, those geraniums were swapped for chrysanthemums.\u00a0\u00a0 To do anything else would be a violation of the natural order.<\/p>\n
So I gathered my pansies and was on my way to the checkout, when I spotted a new perennial–\u2018Wild Swan\u2019.\u00a0 It was not in flower, but did boast a large, showy plant tag.\u00a0 Suddenly I heard violins and a heavenly choir.\u00a0 I was in love with yet another plant.<\/p>\n
The alluring tag described \u2018Wild Swan\u2019 as a \u201chybrid anemone\u2019, though the flower depicted on it looked more like a fully opened white tulip with petals marked by blue-purple on the reverse.\u00a0 I have been in an anemone frame of mind lately, ever since a friend brought me a bouquet of florist\u2019s anemones a few weeks ago.\u00a0 Clearly, I was primed to love \u2018White Swan\u2019.\u00a0 I could have stood in the garden center aisle and researched the plant on my cell phone, but where is the romance in that?\u00a0 I snatched up the pot, plopped it into the cart next to the pansies and sprinted for the checkout.<\/p>\n
I have had ample opportunity to study \u2018Wild Swan\u2019 and its plant tag since that day, because it is living in my kitchen while Mother Nature decides whether it will be winter or spring outside.\u00a0 The neat mound of dark green foliage has a fern-like appearance, with each leaf divided into three parts.\u00a0 It reminds me of the wood anemone\u2014Anemone sylvestris\u2014which has similar leaves and also sports white flowers.\u00a0 When my new plant blooms, it will be about eighteen inches tall with a twenty-four inch spread.\u00a0 The five-petaled flowers will nod from the tops of the stems, closing at dusk so they resemble graceful bells. Clearly, the violet-blue reverse, which does not appear on the wood anemone, is a major selling point.<\/p>\n
A little research yielded a botanical name for my new acquisition, Anemone x rupicola.\u00a0 The \u201cx\u201d, of course, signifies a hybrid plant, and the background information on \u2018Wild Swan\u2019 mentions that one of the variety\u2019s parents is Anemone rupicola, a native of the Himalayas and western China.\u00a0 A glance at Hortus Third<\/em>, the still-invaluable horticultural reference book, confirmed my conclusion about the wood anemone likeness, noting that the rupicola species is \u201clike Anemone sylvestris.\u201d<\/p>\n Plant merchandisers love a good story and \u2018Wild Swan\u2019 has one.\u00a0 It was born in a Scottish nursery and first noticed by the nursery\u2019s owner, Elizabeth MacGregor.\u00a0 Ms. MacGregor identified the rupicola resemblance and parentage and propagated the plant to build supplies.\u00a0 After ten years of plant trials, \u2018Wild Swan\u2019 was introduced at the Royal Horticultural Society\u2019s 2011 Chelsea Flower Show.\u00a0 It garnered lots of positive feedback, and at the end of the show, received the Chelsea \u201cPlant of the Year\u201d award for 2011.<\/p>\n I am struck by the fact that \u2018Wild Swan\u2019 allegedly reblooms throughout the growing season.\u00a0 This trait would make it different from both its look-alike \u00a0relations, the fall-blooming Japanese anemone\u2014Anemone x hybrida\u2014and the wood anemone.\u00a0 It is also reputedly resistant to deer, rabbits and other varmints.\u00a0 I have trouble believing that, since the deer regularly feast on my Japanese anemones.\u00a0 Once my plant goes out into the garden, I will douse it with deer spray, just in case Mr. Antlers cannot read the plant tag.<\/p>\n Japanese anemones self-seed with wild abandon, but \u2018Wild Swan\u2019 is, like many hybrids, apparently sterile.\u00a0 Retailers say that a happy specimen will develop into a nice clump after several years and can be divided.\u00a0 One of the catalog vendors notes that \u2018Wild Swan\u2019 \u201cwill spread politely to fill in\u2026\u201d\u00a0 I like a polite plant, especially one that thrives in light shade and has the good taste to provide lasting cut flowers.\u00a0 This hybrid fills that bill.<\/p>\n Eventually the weather will change and \u2018Wild Swan\u2019 will take flight in my garden.\u00a0 I have a nice spot all picked out.\u00a0 These new plant love affairs are usually a triumph of hope over experience, but never mind.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to see those blue-violet petals.<\/p>\n If you want to catch a \u2018Wild Swan\u2019, you may find one on display at your local garden center.\u00a0 If not, try Bluestone Perennials, 7211 Middle Ridge Rd., Madison, OH 44057, (800) 852-5243, www.bluestoneperennials.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In this part of the world, we have paid for the recent mild winter with a long, erratically cool spring.\u00a0 Since March first, I think we have had more snow in the forecast\u2014though not on the ground\u2014than we did during the months of November, December and January combined. The daffodils, hyacinths and tulips are made … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[1382,1383,1384,126,1156],"class_list":["post-1855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-wild-swan-anemone","tag-anemone-x-rupicola","tag-hybrid-anemones","tag-shade-plants","tag-spring-blooming-plants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1856,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855\/revisions\/1856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}