Did you know that Fall is the time to plant your Spring bulbs? In fact I have a previous post about what bulbs are great to plant in Fall for spring blooms. But today I am going to go over growing ranunculus, as I have found these are a little more finicky than most traditional bulbs that you can just place in the ground.
Ranunculus is a flower that has to be planted in the fall for spring growing. Most directions will tell you that you should soak the bulbs for two hours or overnight in lukewarm water before planting, so that you can add moisture back to the bulb. You can see I did this in just a glass kitchen bowl.
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Sources for Ranunculus (Persian Buttercups)
This is what the bulbs will look like before adding them to the water.
And then here is what they look like after being in the water for two hours.
This year we created a spot in our orchard where I could have my own little flower garden.
Once my timer went off I took a yard flag and wrote from ranunculus on it so that I could mark the spot where they will grow.
We get a lot of rain and wintry weather here in the Pacific Northwest so the reason I used a yard flag is that I wanted to be able to clearly mark where my ranunculus are for when the spring comes.
The directions on the back of the package indicate to plant bulbs three inches below the soil line at about 12 bulbs per square foot. You do the pointed facing down and then the claw part is facing up.
I’m planting mine in a row because my flower garden is in rows already and so I want to be able to have these keep every year in the same spot.
Ranunculus will bloom late spring to early summer for the zone that I am in. I have linked the USDA hardiness zone chart to see if growing ranunculus is ideal in your climate. It doesn’t mean that you can’t grow them outside of those zones, just means that that’s the best and ideal time, or ideal environment for the bulb and flowers to thrive in, and you may not get as much success in a different zone.