In a Vase, on Monday – Ranunculus etc

Chris Mousseau

Challenging photo-taking conditions this morning – blustery and cloudy with rain drops here and there. I tried to shoot today’s vase indoors with not much luck so out we went again. Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts the weekly garden meme In A Vase On Monday, featuring flowers from our gardens. Click the link to join or see what others are sharing this week.

The Ranunculus corms I had carefully overwintered and then rather haphazardly started indoors before planting outside last month are now blooming and, now that the heat dome has somewhat dissipated here, they may remain in bloom for a few weeks. These are R. ‘Bianco Sfumato,’ with stalks approaching 12″ (30cms), joined by lavender, mallow, dill, bronze fennel, a snapdragon and one of the few Verbena bonariensis that self seeded in my garden this year. Have a great week everyone!

Outdoor photo
…indoor photo
Ranunculus in situ, on Friday when it wasn’t so windy

27 Comments

  1. Your top photo doesn’t look like it has a blustery history. I love Ranunculus…not just the name…never see it here. Snapdragons are a fun plant & that’s a pretty pinky. (Yes! The name, too!) my Verbena b. Is a pinky lilac.

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  2. I have never been successful growing Ranunculus but I do love seeing them especially in a vase. These are just so gorgeous.

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    1. Thanks Donna! Growing them and starting them again the next year isn’t as mystifying as I once thought…just a little bit of time required, and I think it helps to get the corms in the winter from a good grower rather than buying a plant in the spring. Worth the effort, eh?

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  4. I have more or less given up trying to photograph vases indoors (I have a semi automatic compact camera, so don’t do anything fancy), Chris, and take them outside regardless of rhe weather – but thinking about it, I could actually try using the cover of the greenhouse in inclement weather. Your rananculus are gorgeous, anyway, and you had already convinced me from a previous post to try growing them again! The dill foliage is such a useful accompaniment and what a pretty shade of pink your antirrhinum is!

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    1. Thanks Cathy! I’m really happy with pretty much everything in the garden this year, flower wise, maybe especially with the antirrhinums which, as I’ve mentioned, have come back from last year’s planting (and a few from the year before, I do believe).

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  5. Ohh, love it, Chris. The Ranunculus are fabulous. When I grow them the stems are short, real short I love the use of dill in arrangements, especially the flowers later, it is too hot for it here and I miss it. I usually play with the lighting when editing the photos and always take them inside

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    1. Thanks! I must have accidentally cultivated over most of my dill bed this spring (I let it self seed in a section of the herb garden) because there are only a few popping up. Luckily I kept seeds as well and have scattered them so hopefully will be able to harvest enough leaves to last the winter. Also luckily, the bronze fennel has similar foliage and looks good in a vase!

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  11. Ranunculus are so pretty. They are one of many flowers that I do not grow because they are not so reliable here. They perform only briefly for spring, but are done by now. Flowers try to continue to bloom, but deteriorate as they open, likely because of the lack of humidity.

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    1. Interesting that the dryness might affect how a flower opens…For me, another interesting thing is the foliage – it dies down as it gets hotter, putting the plants into summer dormancy. If I leave the corms in the ground too long (before digging them up and storing for the winter) they will send up leaves again in the fall, as it gets cooler.

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      1. Oh yes, but I would not expect that there. Some chaparral and desert species do it. California buckeye is a small tree that is ‘twice deciduous’. After winter dormancy, it foliated for spring, then defoliated for the dry warmth of summer, then defoliated for autumn, and finally defoliated for winter. It really is an odd duck.

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  12. Oh, aren’t the Ranunculus pretty! I have never grown them myself so was suprised to hear they will flower for so long. It’s a lovely arrangement Chris. So summery! 😃

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  13. I’ve only seen Ranunculus in the grocery store; they’re much prettier in situ, and in your vase, whether indoors or out. I love the name. It sounds like it should be the name of a character in the “Just So” stories.

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    1. It’s one of my favourite botanical names as well…imagine being alive during the Roman heyday, when everyone spoke to everyone by those long latin or Greek names…it would certainly slow down a conversation!

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