'Wild Swan' Anemone soon to arrive?

Submitted by copperbeech on

After having obtained the prestigious 'Chelsea 2011 Plant of the Year' award I have had my fingers crossed hoping to see WS on this side of the pond...sooner rather than later.

http://www.elizabethmacgregornursery.co.uk/content.php?id=119

And it seems that maybe this is the season that we will see it in North American gardens as Monrovia shows it on their site:

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/3283/wild-swan-hybrid-anemo...

What do you think?

Comments

Submitted by Tony Willis on Wed, 03/27/2013 - 07:53

copperbeech wrote:

Tony, can I assume that you are not in NAmerica?  :(

No- NW England. I was despatched to Elizabeth MacGregor's when we saw they were in stock. Mrs W saw it on TV when it was shown at Chelsea and it became a must have plant for her. In the flesh it is a superb plant.

Submitted by copperbeech on Wed, 03/27/2013 - 08:06

Tony wrote:

In the flesh it is a superb plant.

So Tony, 2013 will be its first full season in your garden? Can you tell yet if it has survived the winter with you? And let us know when it puts out its first bloom.

As I recall Monrovia lists its hardiness as zone 6. This is much more tender than traditional late flowering Anemones. I wonder why the difference. Even so I will for sure try a couple if I can find a source this season.

Tony, how many WS did you buy last fall? In what sun aspect did you place them?

Submitted by copperbeech on Fri, 05/31/2013 - 17:52

"Wild Swan" is still not in retail nurseries in Ontario Canada  :(. However I did come across a similar looking anemone called "Glacier".

It appears to be the competition with "Wild Swan". That is unlike a traditional anemone it is advertised as blooming June to August. It even looks similar to WS in that the backsides of the flower are a light shade of blue. I would like to know of its development.

Here is the tag that came with this plant.

100.42 KB

Submitted by Tony Willis on Sat, 06/01/2013 - 09:24

Doug

this would appear to be a straightforward form of Anemone rivularis which is itself a lovely thing and very similar in flower form and colour to 'White swan' but no where near as large.

When I first saw 'white swan i thought it was a rivularis hybrid which it is not.

We have had A. rivularis in the garden for many years where it has made a large vigorous plant and self seeded.

Submitted by copperbeech on Sat, 06/01/2013 - 19:15

I guess what caught my eye in the description of "Glacier" is the seemingly extended bloom time i.e. June to September. Does that imply repeat blooming or am I reading to much into the descrip?

Submitted by Tony Willis on Sun, 06/02/2013 - 04:00

copperbeech wrote:

I guess what caught my eye in the description of "Glacier" is the seemingly extended bloom time i.e. June to September. Does that imply repeat blooming or am I reading to much into the descrip?

No it does not repeat flower, it produces large heads of flowers which open in sequence over a long period and so appears to be continuously in flower for weeks. it is a lovely plant.

Submitted by copperbeech on Fri, 06/07/2013 - 10:40

UPDATE

After several setbacks I was finallly able to obtain some "Wild Swan" this past week.

Although I needed only 2 plants, after all the waiting I instead purchased 4....no idea where they will all go :-[.

(It will be interesting to see if they are able to survive our zone 5 (Canada) climate).

Submitted by Tony Willis on Mon, 06/10/2013 - 13:28

What joy a rabbit(s) has eaten all the flower buds of our two plants. More will come but whether they get to flowering is another matter. Fortunately we have seen them in flower when we bought them last autumn.