The Road to Ranunculus - Blog 4
Ever since this crazy flower hobby of mine began, learning to grow ranunculus has been at the top of my bucket list. Knowing I was going into the first year of a legitimate cut flower business, this plant was a non-negotiable part of the 2025 garden plan. But you should know that over-wintering these flowers in zone 6b is no small task. First it began with ordering corms and starting the pre-sprouting process. Then, in late October I transplanted them from trays into flower beds and watered regularly to help them adjust. Next was the task of figuring out some sort of structure to protect the baby sprouts from our harsh winter weather. I created hoops with fencing wire and covered the low tunnels with greenhouse plastic and frost cloth. When the first hard freezes came I was a little nervous, but quickly gained confidence when they survived each one and remained a healthy green color.
When January came, we had over a week of single digit temps as well as some sub zero nightly lows. My structures were beaten and wonky from piles of snow and wind. I lost a few plants from the extreme cold and all the flowers were very stressed. During the most frigid night, I even had it so cozy in there that some sort of critters managed to get in the tunnels and hunker down until the cold passed. After many weeks of repeatedly covering and uncovering my structures, hints of spring slowly (finally) emerged. More daylight, higher nightly temperatures and lots of pretty green growth felt like light at the end of the tunnel.
During the months of March and April I focused on fertilizing, watering and de-budding. Yes, even though it absolutely killed me inside, I picked buds off of these plants for about two weeks. But it was TOTALLY worth it. As a result, I have tons of stems and they are long and beautiful! This growing process has lasted nearly eight months and every bit of work has made these first few blooms even sweeter. I think I’ve got the ranunculus bug and will likely be growing these flowers every single year from now on. I can't wait to share them with you!