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Spring is still taking its time to get established here, but there are signs of new growth and flowers are gradually appearing. These are Anemone blanda, commonly known as the windflower or winter windflower.
Winter windflower seems an appropriate name for a flower blooming now, because our weather has been unusually wet and sometimes windy too. Conditions here are decidedly un-springlike at the moment. Despite this, these small flowers are quietly establishing themselves in amongst the bigger perennial plants that haven’t yet come into growth. Whenever the sun comes out they open their flowers fully and bring a gleam of light to the still somewhat wintry garden.
There are only a few of the white windflowers in the garden so far. We also have the blue windflowers which have begun to spread, so I’m hoping that the white ones will too. These brave little flowers will always be a welcome sight as winter loses its chilly hold on us and we get ready for spring to arrive in full bloom.
Ann Mackay: Inspired by Nature 
You must enjoy not only the flowers but also the alliterative lilt of the name “winter windflower”.
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I must admit I do! 🙂
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Sweet! We still haven’t any early flowers opening in our yard so I envy you this Spring beauty. Some places in town that get sun all day and have something behind the flower bed to catch and hold the sun’s warmth are in bloom so we can enjoy them there. Happy Spring, Ann!
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They are demure but so pretty – and there’s an an increasing group of the blue ones. Things are just starting to wake up in the garden so we haven’t very many flowers yet…but soon! Hope you get some good sun & warmth to encourage spring growth. 🙂
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Beautiful, Ann! In the first pic petals are pretty much silky!!
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Thank you Indira! The sun has come out today, so all the anemones are fully opened and basking in the warmth.
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Winter windflower is such a lovely name for a lovely flower. Great photos. I had some of the white ones as plant toppers once (not very successful as they were hidden by the tulip foliage) and a few still pop up around the garden. I have always liked the blue ones, but never tried growing them.
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They seem a lot happier here than Anemone coronaria which I have tried but without much success. (I will try again though, because they’re so good to photograph.) The blue blanda is beginning to spread nicely, so I hope that the white will do the same. It would be good to have some more early spring flowers here – useful to any bees that are around too.
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These winter windflowers are wonderful (I also like alliterations 😊). The petals resemble fine silk.
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I enjoyed your alliteration, hehe! The petals are very delicate – some have a slight pink blush on the back which makes them look even more so.
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I’m surprised how closely these resemble our ten-petal anemones, or Anemone berlandieri. I was lucky enough to find pink, blue, and white this year; white’s most common, but even the white can have that blush of pink on the backs of the petals, and the buds are often significantly pink before opening. I love that they’re all called windflowers. I first saw them on a Christmas card from an English friend; it showed a collection of red, purple, and white ones. Those clearly showed their membership in the buttercup family. The petals were fewer, larger, and more rounded — all in all a gorgeous flower.
See how closely ours resemble yours?
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They do have a strong family resemblance! (Though the centres are very different – ours don’t have the conical shape.) Anemones are very beautiful and I’d love to grow more. (The Japanese anemones take advantage of that feeling and are keen to take over more ground, hehe!)
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Nice to see your anemones. I think the Pennine damp might have rotted my bulbs as I have none so far.
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I hope that they’re just late – everything here is behind where it was last year. Fingers crossed that they do appear!
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So beautiful.
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Thank you Anita! 🙂
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