September Charm Japanese Anemones

Anemone x hybrida September Charm

Does your garden give up the ghost at the end of summer? There's no need to shut up shop over the August bank holiday if you have Anemone September Charm in your borders. This is a wonderful herbaceous perennial bearing its lovely, delicate flowers from July right until the end of September. It also has a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit, so you can be doubly sure of its quality.

The late summer show is lovely! On 90cm purple wiry stems that float in the breeze, the cupped flowers are up to 8cm wide, with rose-pink petals, deeper pink beneath, with the outer petals tinted in purple. If that wasn't enough, the stunning dark green vine-like foliage is semi-evergreen.

Features

• Colour: Rose-pink petals.
• Flowering: July to September.
• Foliage: Dark green vine-like leaves.
• Height: 90cm.
• Spread: 40cm.
• Spacing: 40cm.
• Position: Sun, partial or dappled shade.
• Soil: Any, moist but well-drained.
• Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.

Great In Your Garden

September Charm is a reliable, free-flowering variety, highly prized because of its ability to perform well in the sun, partial or dappled shade. It likes a decent soil that's moist but not waterlogged, so make sure it's paired with plants that like similar conditions - in partial or dappled shade, try hostas with their contrasting leaf shapes and the RHS Plant of the Century geranium Rozanne.

In sunnier conditions, grow it alongside Asters, Dahlias - especially deep, rich shades like Dark Spirit and annuals such as Cosmos Snow Puff. As a contrast in form but keeping the light, airy feel going, interplant Anenome x hybrida with bronze fennel, whose delicate, divided aromatic leaves and yellowish umbellifer flower heads look amazing right into late autumn.

September Charm also makes an excellent cut flower especially in contemporary or Oriental-inspired arrangements, as each single bloom is held on slim, tall stems.

Plant in moist but well-drained rich soil in sun, partial shade or dappled shade. Add organic matter when planting 40cm apart. Water well until established and during dry spells. Cut back spent flowers.

Mulch with well-rotted compost, tidy old leaves and feed with a general fertiliser in March. Cut back faded flowers stems. Protect against slugs, snails, caterpillars and powdery mildew. Plants don't like root disturbance so only divide in spring where necessary.

Did You Know?

The Japanese Anemone is actually native to China - it was imported into and is now naturalised in Japan.