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Ranunculus are one of my most favourite flowers and I’ve thought about growing my own ranunculus for a few years. I can just get lost in those layers and layers of delicate, buttercream petals. They are gorgeous in a spring garden and uplifting when cut and enjoyed indoors. With a change of water and a re-snip of the stem ends, I have found the cut blooms can last up to two weeks in a vase. Ranging in colours of pale pastels to cheerful bright pinks, oranges and yellows. They are the epitome of a perfect bloom.
This year I decided it was time to grow some myself. You can follow along here and grow your own too!
Growing some Hope
For me, spring is always such a hopeful time. The unmasking of the garden from the melted snow, scattered brown twigs and old leaf remnants. It is exhilarating to discover that first bright green sprout pushing through the earth destined to become a crocus or a bright yellow daffodil. It is a remarkable and wonderful event as the garden wakes up from its winter sleep. I often feel I’m at the same point of awakening. Ready to shed the sweaters of the chilly days and place my unsocked foot onto the warm stone patio bricks. This year, more than ever, I need to experience the hope of spring.
Truthfully, it took me a bit of time to unbox the ranunculus and anemone corms I had ordered. I think I’ve had them for a couple weeks now but last week I felt a bit frozen and couldn’t even open them. It felt like it was enough to just navigate through this new normal we are in.
No Better time than right now
I have never grown my own ranunculus before and I started to worry that I wouldn’t do it right and they wouldn’t grow. And then I decided what if it worked and I could actually nurture a tiny green sprout out of those gnarled dead looking things? Wouldn’t that be something. So that’s what I did.
Here’s a step by step guide to grow your own ranunculus. I’m following the guidelines I received with my purchase of the corms and you can follow along with me. The directions are straightforward and pretty simple and I have my fingers crossed that I can do this. Also, just so you know, you can follow the same instructions for anemone corms, but it is suggested to soak anemones for at least 8 hours. (See the links at the bottom of this post for excellent resources for ranunculus and a great how-to video by Antonio Valente.)
At the time of posting this, you are not too late to start your own corms or even order them if you’re in a similar gardening zone. Dahlia May Farm in Trenton, Ontario is still selling them online. I ordered the Mixed Blooms but she has a few different choices remaining.
At this point, my ranunculus are at Step #4. I’m checking on them daily and making sure the soil is moist and waiting patiently to see some sprouts in 2-3 weeks. Here are all the steps for you and I’ll add photos as we go along.
What to expect when you Receive your Corms
You will receive them in a dormant and dry state. Just looking at these will make you think it would be a miracle if anything green, let alone a flower, comes out of them. But be patient friend, we can do this.
Step 1 – Soaking the Corms – Pre Germination
You activate the corms by soaking them. In a bucket or bowl soak the corms in room temperature water for a minimum of 4 hours. The water temperature should not be warmer than 12C/55F. Once they have been soaked they plump right up are ready to be planted in potting soil.
Step 2 – fill your tray with soil
Fill a seed tray half way up with soil.
I moistened the soil with a mist of water at this point. A spray bottle works great for this.
It’s a good time to mark your trays so you will remember what you have planted and the date you planted them. Popsicle sticks work well.
Step 3 – Planting the soaked corm in your seed tray
Take the soaked corm and place it with the ‘fingers’ pointing down.
Cover with more soil.
Moisten the soil.
Step 4 – Letting them Germinate
After planting store your tray for 2-3 weeks in a cool room. The ideal temperature is 10C/50F. I keep them in my basement. Keep them moist but not too wet because you don’t want them to rot and conversely make sure that you don’t allow them to dry out.
Step 5 – Sprouts
Once sprouted they can be moved into warmer temperatures and grown into small plants.
Step 6 – Planting in the garden
Small plants can be moved out to the garden in early spring. Usually this can be done 4-6 weeks before the last frost. You do have to guess a bit about this but in my area I’m a Zone 6A and typically the last frost is before the third week of May. This would mean that these will be ready to plant in the garden mid to late April.
Plant them outside where they will get full sun and in well drained soil. I think it’s going to be really fulfilling to grow my own ranunculus this year.
TIP: If planted in the garden they must be covered at night if there is potential frost. A great idea is to plant them in pots and they can be moved in and out of the house as the weather allows. I am planning to plant my ranunculus in pots this year just for that very reason.
resources:
- Dahlia May Flower Farm where you can shop for corms to grow your own ranunculus or pick up a bouquet.
- Antonio Valente has a great how-to video on IG.
