Description
Red Anemone, Erigeron pulchellus
QUART POT
Light: Sun, Part Shade
Moisture: Medium
Soil: Sand, Loam
Height: 6–18″
Bloom Season: May–June
Bloom Color: Red/Maroon
Benefits: Early bloomer for bees
Notes:
Red anemone (Anemone multifida) is found in northern Michigan in sandy/gravelly soil on sand dunes with creeping juniper, ground cherry, bearberry and other dune specialists.
The leaves are silky and deeply cut/lobed (earning this plant its other common name—Cutleaf Anemone). The red petals are quite ephemeral and are replaced with a small cylindrical seed head after pollination that fluffs out as it ages. Each seed is surrounded by fluff which helps it move in the wind. In other regions, the flowers of this plant may be white, pink, or red.
There is not a lot of information online about the species that pollinate these plants, but it is found in northern, mountainous and boreal habitats across North America.
—Notes and photos by Sally Garrod, Wild Ginger Woodlands
