Rue Anemone

Thalictrum thalictroides

Rue Anemone is a spring ephemeral jewel. one of the earliest flowers to open in the Virginia woodland, often appearing alongside bloodroot and hepatica in late March or early April before most other plants have stirred. The flowers are delicate white or faintly pink cups held above lacy blue-green foliage on wiry four-to-nine-inch stems, and they bloom for weeks if the temperatures stay cool. Up close, the compound leaves look almost like maidenhair fern fronds, with rounded lobes in threes and a soft blue-gray cast that persists after the flowers fade. The whole plant disappears by late June as the woodland canopy closes and the summer drought sets in. a true spring ephemeral. For this reason, plant it among summer-active companions like wild ginger, Solomon's seal, or ferns that will fill the gap. Rue Anemone is ideal for the intimate scale of a woodland path edge or a shaded rock garden, where visitors will stop and crouch down to look at the delicate detail up close.