Ranunculus

Ranunculus asiaticus hybrids have become ever more popular as cut flowers over the past few years. All the markets in Holland are awash with bucketfuls of their neatly furled blooms in myriad colours from as early as February. If we were visiting at that time of year we would always come back with great bunches of them, which would then last for ages in a coolish room.

It doesn't take long for the market to respond to demand and we are now seeing breeders introducing exciting new cultivars every year. We have expanded our own range to reflect the interest in these bewitching blooms and hope you like our offerings.

Note that all the various 'series' we offer hail from warmer climes, so can offer a longer and extended season of flowering. They are also all long stemmed varieties, suited to cutting - and for the garden. Professional growers seem to be able to coax them into flower just about whenever they are needed but we have indicated their natural flowering time (from a spring planting) in the individual product description. The tubers store very well if kept frost free and dry, so staggered planting to achieve different flowering times is entirely feasible.

Experienced cut flower growers will be familiar with growing the little tubers but, for first time growers, there are some helpful videos on the internet (choose one by a seasoned grower!). Some professional cut flower growers, such as Green & Gorgeous, run dedicated workshops for those who appreciate a 'hands on' approach.  If you can find it, there was also an excellent article in the gardening press a couple of years ago by Tom Brown. Tom is Head Gardener at West Dean garden but was growing ranunculus for the first time, so this combination of a very skillful gardener essentially experimenting, makes this a particularly useful source of information.