The coffee is still warm, the patio pots are catching the first sun, and a bee is already busy among the anemones. These poppy anemones grow quickly and bloom freely, with double flowers that keep coming through spring and summer.
They stay a tidy 8 to 10 inches tall, which makes them a natural for containers as well as garden beds. Butterflies and bees visit often, deer pass them by, and a handful snipped for a small vase brings the patio indoors.
The 45-bulb pack fills a row of planters along the porch steps, and 75 stretch to the beds as well. Settle them into loose, free-draining soil, water after planting, and let them get to work. By summer, the morning routine includes a little cutting.
