Middle Eastern Marvels - Garden Plants – Ranunculus

Name – The elegant ranunculus derives its name from the Latin word rana, meaning ‘frog’, which refers not to the shape of the flower but the moist environments in which the ranunculus is naturally found. It’s also known commonly as the Persian buttercup, Prairie buttercup or Lapland buttercup or crowfoot.

Description – White, yellow, orange, red, pink and violet flowers that have large numbers of double petals.

Origin – Bearing in mind that this is a plant that loves damp and boggy environments, to get the best and earliest germination soak the corms for about an hour in warmish water and keep them quite damp for the first few days after planting. The corms look like a bunch of fingers and should be planting with the finger ends facing downwards. Given that they have such specific planting conditions, they can be difficult flowers to get right – a wet and windy spring will damage the flowers, while hot, dry conditions will cause the foliage to yellow prematurely and also will restrict the flowering. Plants are well suited for short-term outdoor use when grown in containers, because watering can be monitored and they can be moved out of adverse weather. If you pick faded flowers right away, the plant will produce another flower immediately and continuously for a long period of time.

For Decoration - Ranunculuses are delicate blooms and need to be kept well hydrated. Flower heads can be dried by hanging them upside down in small bunches after stripping the leaves from the stems.

Middle East ranunculus photograph by jjsawrey, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

© blueworldgardener.co.uk