Anemone hupehensis Fantasy Ariel

Anemone hupehensis Fantasy Ariel is a small Japanese anemone with vibrant, bright magenta pink flowers. With a rounded and compact habit, particularly suited for pot cultivation, it shows excellent performance in borders and flower beds. It forms a lovely bushy clump covered in bright flowers, dark pink with a yellow-orange centre, well into autumn. This perennial plant possesses an indefinable charm that pairs so well with the exuberant flowering of asters and silver foliage. It thrives in non-scorching sun or partial shade, in moist and rich soil.

Japanese anemone 'Fantasy Ariel' is a particularly floriferous perennial of the Ranunculaceae family. A descendant of Anemone hupehensis, native to central and western China, this low and compact variety will not exceed 45 cm (18in) in height with a spread of 50 cm. Like other Japanese Anemones, it is a perennial plant with fibrous 'tubers' that form large and vigorous rounded clumps. The foliage of this variety is particularly healthy and disease-resistant. It is deciduous to semi-evergreen depending on the climate, highly dissected, dark green, strongly veined on the underside, and hairy.  Flowering occurs from August-September to October. The flowers are solitary, on sturdy, slender, and erect stems. They start as delightful oval and fluffy buds, particularly dark on this variety, in a lovely purple-brown shade, then open into flared cups, somewhat loose, composed of a row of petals arranged in a cup. Their colour is a dark magenta pink with a wide crown of yellow stamens. Japanese anemones can live for about ten years in the same spot.

Japanese anemone is one of the most beautiful flowers of autumn. Light and graceful, it sways gently in the wind. It decorates the garden or large pots on the terrace from late summer to the first frosts. Perfect at the back of a border for the taller ones, it blends its elegant flowering with the grace of asters and the nostalgic charm of perennial chrysanthemums. The Fantasy Ariel variety is perfect in the centre or at the edge of a border, among sea cineraria and silver wormwood, where its magenta flower works wonders, in front of a hedge of hydrangeas and spindles. The finely dissected foliage of anemones adds a beautiful dark green note to flower bouquets. Sometimes invasive if it is happy, it easily self-seeds. Fortunately, it is quite easy to control its growth.