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Anemones are the highlight of florist’s shops and flower shows in January and February. Sometimes referred to as the French anemone or florist’s anemone, Anemone coronaria is commonly called the poppy anemone because it looks like a bright, open poppy with a dark center. A member of the huge buttercup family (Ranunculaceae)—which includes such diverse flowers as columbine, hellebore, monkshood and delphinium—there are 120 species of anemones.

You may be familiar with the dainty spring-blooming, Grecian windflower, Anemone blanda that is easily grown from small tuberous rhizomes planted in the fall.

By contrast, the large poppy anemone is hardy only to zone 8, must be grown outside as an annual and be planted in the spring for summer blossoms or forced in a container for earlier bloom.

Growing 8 1/2 inches tall, the poppylike flowers come in vivid purple, pink, red or blue with a central cluster or “boss” of black stamens. White flowering anemones have yellow stamens.

The foliage is finely cut and ferny, giving rise to the nickname, especially for the reds, “parsley rose.”

Native from the Mediterranean area to central Asia, anemones get their name from the Greek word anemos, meaning wind. The thought is that the wind blows the flowers open and carries the petals away.

Traditionally, anemones were woven with lilies to make crowns for Greek maidens to wear on festive occasions, hence the name coronaria.

At one time anemones blanketed the hills around Palestine with such beauty after the rainy season that some believe the flowers were the biblical “lilies of the field.”

The plant gained even more religious significance during the Crusades when the Bishop of Pisa proposed that empty ships returning from the Holy Land use good soil instead of worthless sand as ballast in their holds.

He had this soil spread on the burial ground Campo Sancto in Pisa and, in the spring, the bright red blossoms of the anemone miraculously appeared.

The showy red blossoms of anemone coronaria were long associated with blood in legend and mythology.

Pure white anemone ‘The Bride’ has a pale yellow center and cluster of stamens. Charming in an innocent way, a bouquet of white flowers lends a calming touch to a hectic dinner table.

Dark blue ‘Mr. Fokker’ anemone has a contrasting cluster or “boss” of black stamens in the center.

To the clergy, it surely represented the blood of crusading martyrs. Anemone coronaria became widely grown in monastic gardens throughout Europe because of this sacred connection.

Double forms started to emerge and were called the ‘St. Brigid’ group after an Irish saint whose festival day falls on February 1.

Bunches of jewel-toned Anemone coronaria are readily available from most florists right now and brighten up a dark and dreary winter’s day. Appealing in their simplicity, a bouquet of blue and white anemones or a white ironstone pitcher full of red anemones will take the chill off and bring thoughts of spring.

They are one of the longest lasting cut flowers, but should yours droop after just a few days, revive the flower by recutting the stems and using fresh cool water. A fresh bouquet of anemones generally lasts between seven and ten days if you change the water regularly.

Did you know that the largest grower of Anemone coronaria for the New England cut flower trade is located right here in New Hampshire?

If you think your oil bills are high this winter, imagine heating four greenhouses!

Sabrina and Gary Matteson of Epsom have roughly a third of an acre under cover between their three 30-by-140-foot-long production greenhouses and one smaller greenhouse for raising seed-making plants. They supply about 300,000 flowers a year to the Boston Flower Exchange.

Poppy-like flowers of anemone coronaria can be as large as four inches across. Though they are not fragrant, they make an excellent, long-lasting cut flower.

Gary and Sabrina worked for an anemone grower in Rhinebeck, New York, who wished to retire.

Rather than take on a huge facility with aging glass greenhouses, they purchased seed from him and moved to a farm in Epsom in 1981 to start their own, smaller operation.

Gary does the hybridizing to produce their own seeds now, specializing in the large, single flowered, De Caen Series anemones.

Each plant produces up to ten flowers, but the tuber weakens after blooming.

The Mattesons treat these as annuals and start new vigorous plants each year—between 36,000 and 40,000 of them! During the flowering season—which runs from late October through May—the couple pick the anemones every other day, delivering them to Boston twice a week.

The Mattesons sell wholesale only, so please don’t bother them with requests for flowers. You can buy their anemones locally at:

Cole’s Garden Center
430 Loudon Road
Concord, N.H. 03301
603 229-0655

The Amherst Farmers’ Market
Salzburg Square
292 Rte. 101
Amherst, N.H. 03031
603 249-9809

The Farm and Flower Market
15 Webster Street
Manchester, N. H. 03101
603 625-6700

The Garden Party
79 Amherst Street
Milford, N.H. 03055
603 249-9809

Robin Sweetser has written a biweekly gardening column for the Sunday Concord Monitor for thirteen years, is a regular contributor to ACCENT and writes for the Old Farmer’s Almanac. A former Seacoast resident, she now lives and gardens in Hillsborough, New Hampshire.