Among everything that’s sinking back into the ground, there’s the first sign of life from some of last year’s root cuttings.
Now Eriocapitella, this ‘Ex Compton’ Anemone cultivar started its life in Serge Hill’s Plant Library, holding its snow-white flowers even longer than ‘Honorine Jobert’, its more popular cousin. Unearthed, snipped and reburied during a winter propagation course, the cuttings have sat nestled rather unceremoniously in a Sainsbury’s bag since November, alongside winter-classic Cornus cuttings, some Sambucus ‘Black Tower’ and a gritted selection of Phlox and Macleaya roots.
The thin dry twists looked unpromising, kinked and curled into the pots, and with these being my first root cuttings I told myself not to expect too much. But this tiny green caterpillar curl has emerged, and with it, in two to three years’ time, the promise of a swathing white anemone bed.
a year in the garden 