Will my anemones cross-pollinate?
Q I have several stands of white Japanese anemones in my garden, but also one clump of pink. Is there any possibility they might cross-pollinate as I much prefer the pink ones?
Myrna Smith, Harrogate, N. Yorkshire
A Japanese anemones do cross-pollinate and hybridise readily, especially when there are plants of the same species growing nearby. I can’t find anything definitive to say whether different species cross-pollinate, but given that many of our most well-known garden varieties are offspring of A. x hybrida (a long-established cross) then I would say it is quite likely!
However, I wonder if they set much seed. I have a lot of these plants in my garden (mostly pink, I’d love a few more white) and I think almost all of the young plants I find are the result of the roots spreading underground and sending up new shoots, rather than seedlings.
They do spread quite efficiently and are hard to eradicate once established in a spot, but I’m quite sure this is not as a result of seed setting.
To remove them you can treat with a glyphosate-based weedkiller that is taken in and spreads through the plant, killing from the roots up,
