Anemone

Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis) is a vigorous, spreading native perennial of moist meadows, streambanks, and ditches across much of northern and central North America, grown for clean white cup-shaped flowers held over deeply cut, sharply toothed foliage in late spring and early summer. Be warned first: it spreads aggressively by underground rhizomes and can become a thug in a normal bed, running well beyond where you plant it and knitting into large colonies. That habit makes it an excellent plant for naturalizing a damp bank or filling a tough, contained spot, and a poor choice for a tidy mixed border where it will overrun quieter neighbors. Each flower carries five showy, petal-like white sepals around a boss of yellow stamens (the true petals are absent) on erect hairy stems to about 12 to 24 inches. It wants medium to wet soil in full sun to part shade and is hardy roughly from USDA zone 3 to 8.

A low, spreading spring tuber that forms carpets of finely cut, ferny foliage studded with many-petalled, daisy-like flowers in blue, white, or pink in early spring; the Grecian windflower. The blooms open flat in sun and close at night and in dull weather. Native to southeastern Europe, Türkiye, and the Caucasus (POWO, Kew), it is an easy, gently naturalizing carpeter for the front of a border or under deciduous shrubs in dappled shade. Plant the hard, knobbly tubers shallowly in fall after soaking them overnight - they look dead but are not. Like other anemones it is toxic if eaten and its sap (protoanemonin) can irritate skin, so wear gloves when handling the tubers.

A graceful, late-season garden perennial grown for its airy sprays of pink or white saucer-shaped flowers held on tall, wiry stems above a low mound of dark, divided leaves. A horticultural hybrid of East Asian parentage, it blooms from late summer into autumn when most perennials are finished, lighting up part-shaded borders and woodland edges. It wants cool, consistently moist soil and spreads steadily by underground runners, so it rewards a roomy, evenly-watered spot rather than a hot, dry one.