Photographs of ranunculuses

I wasn’t sure so I checked the dictionary. Ranunculus can be pluralised to ranunculus OR ranunculuses OR ranunculi.

I love the look of ranunculuses (all those delicate layers!), and I decided to grow them for the first time this year - in the Pastello colour mix of the Elegance® range - to see how successful the crop would be out in the garden with minimal protection. I pre-sprouted them and put them out in my ranunculus bed in October. Over the length of the bed I made a low tunnel, but I covered it with enviromesh rather than impenetrable plastic, so that I didn’t need to worry about irrigation during the winter. If the winter was exceedingly cold, I would cover them with extra layers, but temps didn’t go much below freezing here so there was no need. They sprouted some foliage and then waited until spring.

Flower buds started emerging in early April with the first flowers opening by the end of April. Aphids were already becoming an issue by this point, with February having been unseasonably warm (these were brushed off or sprayed with diluted organic Castile soap). I watered and fed the ranunculi, and they produced some of the biggest ranunculus blooms I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t stop photographing them. Flowering was spectacular and went on through the very beginning of June. After a very dry May though, powdery mildew was starting to take hold.

I’m saving some of last season’s claws to see how they perform next season, but I’d like to add one or two different colours to the crop - orange, purple, picotee? I was really pleased with how these beautiful flowers grew for me and I can’t wait to see them in the garden again next spring!