Japanese anemone

Value to bees

Nectar

Moderate

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus

Which bees, and why

Worked mainly for pollen by honey bees and bumblebees, and heavily by hoverflies. Its distinction is positional — very few good autumn plants tolerate shade, and this one thrives in it.

A completely open flower with exposed stamens and nectaries. Nothing is excluded.

Worth knowing

Good pollen and moderate nectar in autumn, from a plant that will grow in part shade where most late forage will not.

Flowering

In flower

August to October (northern hemisphere)

Eight to ten weeks from late summer into mid autumn, alongside the asters and sedums.

When nectar flows

Modest nectar and abundant pollen from a large exposed boss of stamens.

Year-to-year variation

Very dependable once established, including in dry shade.

Growing it

Conditions

Part shade to sun, any reasonable soil that does not bake dry. It tolerates dry shade once established.

Size

70-130 cm.

Native range

A garden hybrid of Chinese species, long grown in Japan and Europe.

Suits

Small gardens, Large gardens, Hedgerow

• Slow to establish and then vigorous to the point of nuisance — it spreads by root and is difficult to remove. Site it where that is acceptable.
• Choose single-flowered forms; the doubles offer far less.
• Do not cut it back until spring; the stems and seed heads have winter value.

What it looks like

Tall wiry branching stems above a clump of vine-like leaves, carrying open saucer-shaped flowers of white or pink with a prominent green centre ringed by golden stamens.