Description of Anemonopsis californica (Apache Beads)

Anemopsis californica is yerba mansa, sometimes sold as Apache beads. It’s a wetland plant from western North America that spreads into a low patch and copes with saturated soil. It’s useful when you want a tough ground cover around a pond shelf.

Appearance

It makes broad leaves from creeping rhizomes, then sends up upright stems with white bracts around a central cone. Flowers appear in summer and can have a soft scent. It usually sits 20 to 40cm tall, while the patch can spread wider.

Care Guide

It likes sun and wet soil. In drier spots it survives but loses that lush look.

• Sun: Full sun is best. Light shade is fine if soil stays wet.
• Soil: Wet, heavy soil or aquatic compost in a basket.
• Water: Keep constantly damp to wet. Shallow water at the roots is fine.
• Control: It spreads by rhizomes. Use a solid pot sunk into the bog if you want strict boundaries.
• Tidy: Cut back old stems in late winter.

If you want a neat patch, lift and replant the edge every couple of years.

Suitability for Bog Garden

This suits bog gardens and pond margins where roots stay wet all season. It’s good near the waterline and around larger marginals, where it can knit the planting together.

In small bog beds, contain it so it does not run through slower plants.

FAQ