Winter Aconite
Eranthis hyemalis
also called eranthis
Opens under bare branches in February and is gone underground again by May.
Light The dappled shade beneath deciduous trees is exactly its habitat.
Water Moist ground while it is in leaf; once dormant, dryness does not matter.
Height 12 cm
Spread 3.9 in
Spacing 8 cm
Root depth 8–20 in
- Type
- Flower · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Sunlight
- The dappled shade beneath deciduous trees is exactly its habitat.
- Watering
- Moist ground while it is in leaf; once dormant, dryness does not matter.
- Feeding
- A top-dressing of leaf mold in autumn covers everything it needs.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- February
- Pruning
- Never cut it back — let the foliage die down of its own accord.
- Overwintering
- Fully dormant by May; the tubers take -20°C without harm.
- Jan–Feb Bud Break
- Feb–Mar Flowering
- Mar–Apr Seed Set
- Apr–Dec Dormancy
- Jan–Jan Dormancy
- Plant spacing
- 3.1 in
- In-row spacing
- 3.1 in
- Between rows
- 3.9 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- Swollen storage roots
- Working depth
- 8–20 in
- Can reach
- 3 ft down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 4–6 in across, about 1–1.5× the width of the plant
- Shallowest pot
- 14 in of soil
The fat roots are the larder and the thin ones do the feeding. Lift them or mulch them deeply where the ground freezes hard, and handle them by the crown: a snapped storage root rots rather than heals.
The habit is Winter Aconite’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
Green-leaved flowers, like this one.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com