Early-spring buttercups

Many home gardeners are sometimes surprised to discover how often anemones can be found growing wild in the woodlands, fields, and even along the roadsides of the South.

The anemone is actually one of the earliest plants to flower, blooming in February -- and sometimes even in January -- and appears all through March or April.

Clematis is another specimen of the buttercup that occurs in a wild state in the South. Clematis, known as leather-flower (Clematis reticulata), is a much-branched vine 6 to 12 feet tall, or even higher, and climbs by means of twisting and coiling.

The large-flowered buttercup (Ranunculus marcranthus) is a perennial herb with numerous erect stems and solitary flowers of yellor to yellow-green.

The prairie larkspur bears the nickname of rabbit-face. It is a slender peren nial, seen most commonly on flat grassy lands and pastures, and has white to pale lavender flowers which appear in April and May.

Among all of these wild-growing plants, the anemone is considered by many home gardeners in the South perhaps the most valuable.