How to Grow Ranunculus

Ranunculus is a large genus of about 600 species of plants in the Ranunculaceae and members of the genus include the buttercups, spearworts, and water crowfoots. Most of the ranunculus available is the showy hybrids that you see in florist shops. The beautiful flowers which are several inches across are round globes made up of several papery textured petals in bright, almost electric colors like red, pink, yellow, gold, white, and picotee that are with the petals edged in a contrasting color. The name Ranunculus is Late Latin for "little frog," the diminutive of rana and this may refers to several species being found near water, like frogs.

They grow 18 to 24 inches tall. They are hardy only in warm climates, blooming there in late winter and spring and going dormant in the summer; both the flowers and the attractive ferny foliage die back. In zones where there is frost they are grown outdoors for bloom in spring and summer until it gets very hot. They can be grown in beds, but they make a particularly fine show as container plants on a deck or terrace. The most ordinary use of Ranunculus species in traditional medicines are anti-rheumatism, intermittent fever and rubefacient.

The plants like full sun and need moisture around the roots, but they will rot if drainage is poor around their crowns. They are planted in late fall in warm climates in cool ones they are started indoors two months before the last frost. Furthermore, all Ranunculus species are poisonous when eaten fresh by horses, cattle, and other livestock, but their acrid taste and the blistering of the mouth caused by their poison means they are generally left uneaten.

Soak the claw shaped tubers in water for a few hours before planting them. Place them in the soil with the claw facing down. Start with small pots, filled with a light, rich potting soil, and move them up to larger pots as they grow, keeping them cool at night and keeping their soil moist. If you love unusual cut flower displays then Ranunculus are the plant is best for you, in vibrant, exciting and perfect for making a dramatic impact.

Moreover bring them outdoors only after danger of frost has passed. After they stop blooming in summer, let the foliage die down and the rubers dry out. Therefore some to have them in the bags of dry peat at about 50 degrees till the planting time. Even warm climate gardeners dig ranunculus up and store them over the summer. However, buttercups are mostly perpetual, but infrequently annual or biannual, herbaceous, aquatic or terrestrial plants, habitually with leafs in a rosette at the base of the stem.