Pacific Publishing Company – Queen Anne & Magnolia News • Madison Park Times • Eatonville Dispatch • Snohomish Tribune
APRIL 12, 2023
3
Are ranunculus annual or perennial? It depends …
T
he tight globes of layered ranunculus blooms are almost too perfect to be believed. You might think they are crepe paper concoctions, but they are very real. Growing from corms resembling tiny brown octopi or claws about the size of a quarter, greenhousegrown plants arrive like magic at nurseries in March and April, when gardeners are at their most flower-deprived and color-hungry, alongside primroses and pansies. The ranunculus family includes the dreaded creeping buttercup, the fleeting spring anemones and these lovelies. Sometimes called “the rose of spring” or “Persian buttercup,” ranunculus come in singles or doubles, smooth-edged or ruffled, in solids and picotees. They are robust cut flowers lasting up to 10 days in a vase. It was love at first sight for me. Years ago, my then-boyfriend lived in an apartment facing a paved courtyard in the West Village of New York City. He didn’t have access to the garden, but the woman who did, called Sara, was an experimental container gardener with a trained eye for plants. I think she had a larch, but in spring she had these elegant lollipops on stems, and the first chance I got I hollered across the courtyard to ask her what those crazily beautiful things were. (New Yorkers aren’t shy about that.) Fast-forward to gardening now in Seattle, where the question has nagged at me over many springs — can we, or I — get ranunculus to stick around year after year in the garden?
In the fall, I runs Dahlia House, made the leap and thedahliahouse. purchased some com, from the Skagit salmon-toned Valley, growing and Elegance ranunculus arranging ranuncufrom Easy to Grow lus, their cousins the Bulbs, easytogrowtuberous anemones bulbs.com. When and dahlias, and they arrived in she’s taught at Floret mid-November, I Farms, Christianson’s wasn’t sure whether Nursery and at the to store or pot them flower festival. up, so I reached Long was sellout to customer Erica Browne Grivas ing corms on her service — and that’s Get Growing website in mid-late when the confusion March, but if you haven’t ordered deepened. corms yet, you can buy growing The Easy to Grow Bulbs site says plants. in zones 8 and warmer, plant in the By happy accident, I met Emily fall; in cooler places, store and plant Mitchell, @lollibirdgardensrc, at the in spring. But we couldn’t agree on booth. She grows Anne’s varietPhoto by Erica Browne Grivas my zone. Although the USDA map ies, along with other easy-to-grow Sometimes called ‘the rose of spring’ or ‘Persian buttercup,’ ranunculus shown on the site lists Seattle as 8b, cut flowers, from her Magnolia EGB’s online zipcode calculator puts greenhouse and sells them from her come in singles or doubles, smooth-edged or ruffled, in solids and picotees. us as 7B, which the customer service sidewalk from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on representative reiterated. The USDA’s Saturdays at 3220 Magnolia Blvd planting in fall, in a sunny spot with plants strong. own calculator, planthardiness.ars. They will bloom until temperatures West. This year, the season runs from excellent drainage is your best bet, usda.gov, has us at 8B, though we with greenhouse or protected spring reach 80 degrees or so, and then March 18-May 20. used to be 8 until 2012. growing a close second. Long digs they’ll slip into dormancy. If digging, I learned from Long’s free online So, adamantly sticking with hers in fall, as many dig their dahlias, Long says wait until the foliage has webinar that the most resilient zone 8, my option was to store in a but they can overwinter here. This is yellowed. varieties of ranunculus for our area cool, dark place like a pantry shelf where the “it depends” comes in. Floretflowers.com says they can are the Italian lines, with names like in a mesh or paper bag, or plant. I Ranunculus are hardy to about 30 overwinter in zones 7 and warmer Sfumato, Giallo and Cloni Nere. planted in a container the first week Italian ranunculus bulbs offer sturdier degrees and need protection with row depending on how cold the winter is, of December to help boost drainage. stems, a higher petal count and, most cover fabric below that. how well-drained the soil and which (This was based on my success of one importantly, adapt to a wider range More tips from Long: critters might nosh on your bulbs. single “Tecolote” making it through Soaking corms in water for four Bottom line? Long digs hers in fall of climates, potentially including our to a second year — barely and briefly well-watered one. They are harder to hours or so helps sprout them. Then and Floret Farms replants extra every — in a window box.) Here’s hoping! find, but worth seeking out. Series to plant 2 inches deep, claws down. You year to never be without ranunculus. This year, I gained some local should see blooms in three or four It sounds like experimentation is look for are Cloni, Cloni Pon-Pon knowledge. At the Northwest Flower and Elegance. months. The more you cut, the more necessary to find the perfect microand Garden Festival, I saw a new blooms will come. Cut the stalk all climate to grow these beauties — or By the way, many of the varietbooth called The Dahlia House, the way to the base. Fertilizing durjust dig them and save for next year’s ies you’ll see at nurseries are not the selling ranunculus corms. Anne Long Italian types. In zones 7 and warmer, ing and after blooming will keep the bouquets.
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