Anemone virginiana - is it weedy?

Submitted by Mark McD on

Last year I bought a couple plants of Anemone virginiana at a NARGS Chapter seedling sale, I wasn't familiar with what this plant was all about. I liked the spring foliage, but as the stems shot up to 2' (60 cm) with ugly whitish flowers, and remembering advice from at least one NARGS member to "watch" this plant as it can spread too far and wide, I dug it up and threw it out. I do realize that the thimble-like seed heads (accounting for the common name of Tall Thimbleweed) might be some of the attraction, but the plant wasn't attractive enough to be worth the space.

Just noticed today a whole crop of leaves sprouting from where I thought I had dug up the whole plant, that's a worrisome sign, maybe any bit of root left behind sprouts. Should I be afraid of this one?

Comments

Submitted by RickR on Sat, 09/03/2011 - 22:09

I am not sure which species of thimbleweed I see growing in the wild here.  But I can say that the "thimbles" are not visually interesting, at least to me, and aren't worth keeping around.

Regarding invasive tendencies, I don't know.  But I can say it competes well with the same kinds of vegetation that A. canadensis does...

Submitted by Mark McD on Mon, 09/05/2011 - 12:24

Lis, Anemone riparia looks prettier than virginiana.  Does A. riparia spread much?

I just dug out the root sprouts on A. virginiana... every tidbit of remnant roots had sprouted... I'm sure that's not the last sprout I'll see.  This one has now moved to the top of my invasive-do-not-grow-list.

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