Ranunculus asiaticus
Persian buttercup
Common names: Garden ranunculus, Ranunculus
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Pot size
- from 3 l
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below −5 °C
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: SuperJew · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
The Asian ranunculus opens in May and June with densely packed, rose‑like flowers in warm hues ranging from white through yellow to deep orange. It is a prized cut flower with long vase life.
Care instructions
Soak the claw‑shaped tubers in water for three to four hours before planting, and keep them cool from March. Plant after the last hard freeze (early May, week 18) with the claws pointing down in well‑drained, sunny soil. Water evenly but avoid waterlogging. After the foliage has settled, dig up the tubers, dry them, and store them in a frost‑free, dry place for winter.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
PlantingMar–Apr
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, well-drained, loamy
Plant the Persian buttercup in humus-rich, loose, well-drained soil. Waterlogging makes the tubers rot, and that is the most common cause of loss. On heavy clay soils, work in mature compost and a little sand or fine grit so that the water can drain away; pure sandy soil, on the other hand, dries out too quickly for it.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar–Jun
Water and feed only once the Persian buttercup has sprouted; before that the dormant tuber needs nothing. In spring, as growth starts, work mature compost and a little horn shavings in shallowly; this feeds it slowly over the flowering season. During flowering you can occasionally add an organic liquid feed such as diluted nettle liquid or compost tea to the water. Stop feeding once the leaves die back.
Overwintering
Persian buttercup tubers are not hardy. Dig them up in autumn after the foliage has died back, before the first frost, clean them and let them dry for a few days. Then store them dark, dry and frost-free at about 5 to 8 °C (for example in newspaper or dry sand), check occasionally for rot and replant them in spring after a short soaking.
Propagation
Methods
- Offsets
- Division
- From seed
Persian buttercups are easiest to propagate by the offset tubers that form on the mother tuber over the course of the season. Dig up the tubers in late summer or autumn after the foliage has died back and carefully separate the lateral offset tubers by hand or with a sharp, clean knife. Let them dry briefly and store them cool, dry and frost-free until the next spring. In spring (roughly February to April), soak the offset tubers in lukewarm water for a few hours and then plant them with the claws pointing down, about five centimetres deep, in loose, well-drained soil.
Alternatively, you can divide larger, strong tubers when lifting them. Cut the tuber clump with a clean, sharp knife so that each piece has at least one visible bud. Plant the pieces in pots in autumn, keep them only lightly moist and overwinter them cool and frost-free.
To raise them from seed, sow in autumn or spring into moist, free-draining seed compost. Persian buttercups need light to germinate, so just scatter the seeds on the substrate and press them down lightly, or at most sift a very thin covering over them, but do not cover them. Keep the sowing cool for the first one to two weeks (around five degrees) and then raise it to about fifteen degrees to stimulate germination. Important: the germination temperature should stay cool (around ten to fifteen degrees) and not rise above sixteen degrees, otherwise the seeds germinate poorly. Under these conditions the first seedlings usually appear within about ten days. Expect one to two years until the first flowers. Varieties do not come true from seed, so sowing is mainly suitable for wild forms or if genetic diversity matters more to you than a particular variety.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
For your garden
Grow Persian buttercup yourself
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