The Canada windflower, Anemone canadensis, is a native Maryland wildflower. Spreading by rhizomes, it naturalizes easily and is widely used in Glenstone's plantings. Growing 1-2 feet tall with large, deeply lobed leaves, it makes for an ideal ground cover which thrives in moist rich soils in the sun or part-shade. Around April, it produces tall stems with 2-inch flowers which tend to blow gently in the wind. This is where its common name of “windflower” comes from. It does not make nectar, but it produces a large amount of pollen. This is important because this pollen provides pollinators with the protein they need in early spring. It a host plant for the veiled ear moth (Loscopia velata) and the one-lined sparganothis moth (Sparganothis unifasciana), both Maryland natives. 

–Tim Curley