Grow and Care for Enemion

Grow enemion in moist deciduous shade. Enemion is one species, Enemion biternatum, also sold as eastern false rue anemone. It is not rue anemone.

Grow it in moist deciduous shade

enemion is a small woodland perennial from tuberous, weakly spreading roots. The leaves are divided twice into threes, and the leaflets are deeply lobed. White flowers open in early spring from the leaf axils. Each flower has five petal-like sepals and a cluster of yellow stamens. Keep the soil moist while it is in leaf. A spring dry spell browns the leaves. [1] [2]

Plant the tubers at the old soil line, in a group

Plant a nursery plant in spring, when you can see the new leaves, or while the foliage is still up. Set the tuberous roots at the old soil line, and plant several together so the patch can carpet.

1. Plant in spring, when the soil is workable and the leaves are visible.
2. Dig a hole as deep as the pot and a little wider.
3. Set the tuberous roots at the old soil line. Do not bury the buds. [3]
4. Space plants about four to twelve inches apart, in a group, not as one lonely stem.
5. Water well, then keep the soil moist through spring. [4]
6. Choose moist deciduous shade, not a dry ridge.

Split a crowded clump when the leaves die back

When the clump is crowded, lift it in early summer as the leaves yellow and die back. Split the small tubers so each piece has roots, then replant at the same depth.

1. In early summer, as the leaves die back, lift the clump.
2. Split the tubers so each piece has roots.
3. Replant at the same depth, and water so the soil stays moist while they settle.

Let it go dormant in summer — new leaves often return in fall

After bloom, the leaves feed the tubers, then they yellow and die down. That rest is normal. Do not cut green foliage, and do not lift the tubers to store them dry. New basal leaves often return in fall.

1. Leave the leaves until they yellow and die down after bloom.
2. Cut only dead stems later, if you want a tidy bed.
3. Watch for a second flush of leaves in fall. Do not treat the summer gap as a dead plant.
4. Spread a thin layer of leaf mold so the soil stays moist. Do not bury the crown under a heavy bark mulch.

Not rue anemone — and not wood anemone or herb rue

Rue anemone is Thalictrum thalictroides. Its flowers can have five to ten petal-like sepals, sometimes with a pink flush, and they sit above a whorl of leaves. It usually grows as scattered plants on wooded slopes, not as a moist-bottomland carpet. If that is the plant you meant, see How to Grow Rue Anemone.

Wood anemone is Anemone. Its leaflets are coarsely toothed, and a whorl of leaves sits under the flowers. Shop anemone tubers that you soak before planting are a different plant. See How to Grow Anemones if you bought those tubers.

Herb rue is Ruta, a dry-sun shrub with a strong scent. Meadow rue is the taller Thalictrum you grow for fluffy summer heads. See How to Grow Meadow Rue if you bought that border plant. A search for false anemone is usually Anemonopsis, which is not this clump.

Set it in moist deciduous shade, with the tubers at the old soil line, in a group. Let it rest in summer, and do not buy rue anemone, wood anemone, or a soak-first shop tuber as this plant.