Garden buttercups – planting and care at home and outdoors

The content of the article

• What are garden buttercups
• Views
• Preparation before landing
• Landing
• Tubers
• Seeds
• Care for buttercups
• Watering
• Fertilizers for buttercups
• Pruning
• Breeding
• Pot growing
• Diseases and Pests
• How to store tubers

Delicate buttercup flowers are an exquisite decoration of any flowerbed. It is believed that this decorative culture is capricious and requires a lot of effort when growing, but with a certain amount of knowledge, difficulties can be avoided. Outdoor planting and plant care must be competent so that lush flowering is a reward to the gardener.

What are garden buttercups

One of the representatives of the family Ranunculaceae is a herbaceous plant buttercup (lat. Ranunculus). The natural habitat of its growth is meadows, marshy areas of the temperate and subarctic climate of the Northern Hemisphere. This flower is also called ranunculus by Latin transcription of the name of the genus of plants. Botany knows more than 600 species of garden buttercup. Among them there are annual, perennial flowers growing in the wild and cultivated by humans for use in landscaping, floristry.

The garden buttercup flower often has an upright stalk 30–50 cm high. Its root system is fibrous with thickened formations similar to tubers. Whole or dissected leaves are arranged alternately on the stems. Ranunculus has single flowers or collected in inflorescence. Its fruit is multi-root. Seeds with trailers are distributed in nature through animals. Many species representatives of the genus Buttercup are poisonous. The juice of their stems is caustic and burning. Ranunculus flower has 3-5 brightly colored petals, many pistils and stamens.

Views

More than 40 species of ranunculus grow on Russian open spaces. Abundantly blooming buttercups give the natural landscape brightness of colors. Description of some species representatives:

• Ranunculus sarmentosus Adams (offspring) – a perennial plant with a creeping stalk, which takes root in the stem nodes, forming new shoots. Long rounded leaves are collected in basal rosettes. Single yellow five-petalled flowers. The culture is widespread on the coasts of the Far East, in the vast Siberia, Mongolia, and China..
• Ranunculus acer L. (caustic). Perennial reaches 1 m in height. It is popularly known as “night blindness.” The stem is covered with hairs, basal leaves on long petioles with a palm-separated leaf plate. Five-petalled flowers, bright yellow on long pedicels. Stem leaves are sessile, tripartite. Representatives of this species are distributed along river banks, in meadows, and forest glades of temperate climate..
• Ranunculus sceleratus L. (poisonous) has a stalk 50 cm long, thickened tripartite leaves with an oblong lobe. Hairy peduncles bear small yellow flowers with a diameter of 10 mm, which have sepals longer than the petals. On an elongated receptacle, many leaflets ripen. The flowering period of the culture is May-June.
• Ranunculus repens L. (creeping) – perennial with a short rhizome and creeping thick, pubescent stalk 40 cm in size. Leaves of two types: basal petioles, formed in nodes and upper sessile, lanceolate. The diameter of the flower corolla is 2-3 cm. The color of single flowers located on the top of the stem is yellow. There are subspecies of culture with an inflorescence of semi-umbrellas. Ranunculus blooms in June. Distributed in humid shaded areas along river banks and in swamps.
• Ranunculus polyanthemos L. (multi-flowered) – perennial up to 80 cm in height. Has a branched ribbed stem, leaves and yellow flowers are covered with protruding whitish hairs. Poisonous plant with a pungent odor is common in dry meadows and forests. Buttercup yellow blooms from June to August. Used by traditional medicine for the preparation of tonic, wound healing and painkillers.
• Ranunculus flammula L. (burning) – perennial with a long stem (50 cm), broad basal leaves on long stalks and sessile stem small leafy stems. Has single apical flowers of yellow color with a diameter of 8-12 mm. The flowering period is from May to September. Grows in water bodies of the middle zone of Russia and Western Siberia.

Breeders bred many varieties of ranunculus, taking as a basis the unpretentiousness of the wild representatives of the genus and improving its aesthetic qualities. The decorative garden buttercup more often has a powerful stem and terry flowers of different shades, which allows florists to actively use it to make beautiful bouquets. The most popular varieties of ranunculus among gardeners are:

• terry buttercup;
• Bloomingdale Rose Bicolor;
• Perple Picoti;
• Double Pink Buttercup;
• Flore Pleno;
• Masha.

Preparation before landing

Garden buttercup is an ornamental plant, the cultivation of which will not create difficulties if the grower is thoroughly prepared for planting the crop. It is better to prepare the earth in the flowerbed in the fall. After clearing it from the remains of the plant mass, the soil is dug up with humus. The acidity of the flower garden land should be neutral. Heavy acid soil is dug up to the depth of a bayonet shovel with bone meal, lime and sand in order to improve its structure and properties.

Ranunculus garden does not tolerate waterlogging. Caring for flowers will be easier when laying a drainage layer of expanded clay or gravel, which will serve as an additional measure of aeration of its root system. After winter storage, the tubers are sorted, removing dried out, spoiled specimens. Pre-soaking the rhizomes in an aqueous solution of potassium permanganate for 12 hours will disinfect them, and treatment before planting with Kornevin will contribute to the rapid germination of seedlings.

The seed method of breeding ranunculus garden is more complicated. In advance, you need to prepare temporary containers for seedlings, soil mix, soak the seed in a growth stimulator such as Novosil, Zircon, Ecoogel, etc. Ranunkulus garden is a very delicate culture that reacts painfully to transplantation, so it is better to lay seed material in soil poured into peat pots. This method will make planting seedlings in open ground and caring for it easier, the root system of seedlings will not be disturbed.

Landing

Planting and care of garden buttercups should be based on knowledge of the basic rules for growing decorative culture. To simplify the care of the ranunculus, a place for a flower bed should be chosen under the crown of trees that creates a shadow. It will protect delicate flowers from direct sunlight. The proximity of shrubs will also be useful to culture, because the garden buttercup does not like drafts. Strong gusts of wind tear off the petals of flowers and break fragile stems, so the flower bed should be protected from adverse weather conditions by adjacent buildings or green spaces.

Tubers

The garden ranunculus is planted in open ground in May-June (depending on the climatic conditions of the area), when the threat of return frosts has passed. If you adhere to this rule, caring for the young shoot of flowers will be simplified – you will not need to constantly cover them with a film from the cold. Some gardeners, to be safe, plant each rhizome of ranunculus in a separate temporary container and transplant into the flower garden after sprouts appear.

It is better to choose a favorable day for laying planting material according to the lunar calendar. Prepared for planting tubers, deepen the beds 5 cm “legs” down into the soil. The distance between the holes should be at least 20 cm. Landing is best done on a cool evening or in the early morning. Having finished laying the planting material, you need to moderately pour the bed with settled warm water.

Seeds

Forcing ranunculus garden from seeds is carried out in mid-March. For their sowing, it is better to purchase peat pots and ready-mixed soil for seedlings – seedlings are very capricious and painfully react to a change in the environment. If the specified material is unavailable for some reason, it is better to use 250 ml plastic cups for temporary containers..

The substrate for planting seeds can be prepared independently at home. The composition of the soil mixture: turf land, peat and coarse river sand, taken in equal quantities. In the dry earth of each cup, seeds are laid at a distance of 5-6 cm from each other, and no more than 3-5 mm are covered with soil from above. After planting, the soil mixture must be moistened with a spray gun and cover the container for seedlings with a plastic film (glass).

Transparent material protects the soil from moisture loss and creates an optimal microclimate for seed germination. The air temperature of the room in which the containers with ranunculus seeds of the garden are located should be 18–20 ° С. Lighting – at least 10 hours a day. Tanks with germinating seeds are best installed on the southern windowsill for maximum penetration of sunlight. Daily care of seedlings involves the removal of a protective film from the surface of mini-greenhouses for a while to prevent condensation.

The only acceptable way to moisten the earth with seedlings is water irrigation using a spray gun. Other types of irrigation will adversely affect the development of the plant. The first seedlings appear 15–20 days after planting seeds. When a young shoot appears, caring for it includes daily removal of a protective film for hardening seedlings. Adaptation time must be gradually increased..

Diving injures delicate sprouts. They react painfully to a change in the place of growth. If the seed planting was carried out without observing the above rules, picking seedlings can be carried out only when they release the third pair of leaves, and planting in a constant place – when 5-6 leaf blades appear. Since April, in warm sunny weather, it is worth making seedlings on the street for hardening.

Care for buttercups

After planting in open ground, ranunculus garden requires careful care. With a significant decrease in air temperature, it is better to cover the bed with seedlings with a plastic film. Mulching the soil with straw after planting tubers will not allow weeds to grow, retain moisture and create favorable conditions for the germination of flowers. The rest of the care for the culture is reduced to simple activities:

• watering;
• loosening the soil;
• weed removal;
• periodic top dressing;
• pruning.

Watering

Proper watering is the basis of competent care for ranunculus garden. Neither waterlogging of the soil nor its excessive desiccation should be allowed. Depending on the type of soil, watering a flower bed with flowers should be 2-3 times a week. The earth should be constantly moist, but not wet. Some time after watering, you need to carefully dig the soil around the plant, being careful not to damage the root. This will give her the opportunity to dry, will facilitate the penetration of air to the root system and its saturation with oxygen. In rainy weather, stop watering temporarily..

Fertilizers for buttercups

Care for garden buttercups provides for periodic fertilizing of the crop with mineral (organic) fertilizers. In order for the ornamental plant to have a well-developed green mass, nitrogen fertilizer, for example, ammonium nitrate, must be introduced in early June. It contains 35% nitrogen and is instantly absorbed by the plant. One tablespoon of fertilizer is dissolved in 10 liters of water and watered the flower bed. Feeding with mullein (an aqueous solution of cow manure) will also give an excellent result. Prepare a nutrient solution as follows:

1. Pour 1 part of manure with 10 parts of water;
2. insist 10 days;
3. to water dilute the slush with water (1: 5).

Caring for ranunculus includes feeding the culture with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers for plentiful flowering. To do this, dissolve 1 tbsp in 10 l of water. spoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate. Is this volume enough for 1 m fertilizer? flower beds. Experienced flower growers know that the yellowed tips of the leaves indicate a lack of potassium in the plant body, and the slowed-down growth of the culture indicates nitrogen starvation. Sophisticated, curved stems and “sluggish” flowering indicate that the plant lacks phosphorus. Fertilize the flowers is not more than 1 time in 2 weeks.

Pruning

In order for the flowerbed to have an aesthetic appearance, systematic care of the flowers is required. To stimulate the active flowering of ranunculus garden, pruning dried stalks is required. In a healthy plant, they form densely on the stem. This prevents the buds from opening simultaneously. When the buttercup has faded, you need to trim the peduncle. Pruning flowers will stimulate the formation and opening of new buds. Cut buttercup bouquets from the flowerbed are standing in vases with water for at least two weeks.

Breeding

Garden buttercups propagate in two ways: tubers and seeds. The first option is the most popular among gardeners, because it requires less effort. During the growing season, tubers of culture are overgrown with “children.” In the fall, when the buttercups fade and dry, the rhizomes need to be dug up, the formed nodules should be separated from the mother part of the root system, the rupture sites should be treated with disinfectants, and the planting material should be stored. The method of winter storage of “children” is described below.

A plant obtained by propagation by tubers forms peduncles the very next year. Seed propagation is used more often by breeding to obtain new cultivars. Seeds are removed from the first flowers of the plant. For this, flower stalks with fruits are wrapped with a cloth, fixed on a stem to prevent seed from shedding. In the fall, the flowers are pruned, seeds are carefully extracted. They are stored in cloth bags until next season. Garden buttercups grown from seeds will begin to bloom only after a season.

Pot growing

Florists grow ranunculus as an unpretentious houseplant. Caring for flowers in pots is easier than outdoors. It is necessary to choose hybrid species of ranunculus with short stems or ampelous varieties. To get a beautifully flowering ornamental plant, tubers are best purchased in specialized stores. They are sold in special packaging that protects the root system from drying out and mechanical damage..

To plant ranunculus in flower pots, you need a ready-made peat-based soil mixture for flowering plants, expanded clay for drainage. Step-by-step instructions for planting buttercups in a flower pot:

1. Soak the plant tubers in clean water at room temperature for 2 hours.
2. Pour boiling water over the disinfection pot. The flowerpot must be with drainage holes.
3. Pour in it a layer of expanded clay for ventilation of the root system and protect the soil from over-moistening.
4. Fill the pot on? soil and water.
5. Set tubers with the sharp side up over the entire volume of the pot so that a group of flowering plants in the future looks like a lush bush.
6. Fill the tubers with soil so that their tops peek out of the ground, pour.
7. Put the pot on the south windowsill.
8. Optimum air temperature for germination of flowers – 18 ° С.
9. Water the plants three times a week. Potted soil should be moist but not wet.
10. When sprouts appear (after several weeks), the temperature is increased to 22 ° C.
11. Once a month, feed buttercups with fertilizers for flowering plants.
12. After flowering, water the plants gradually reduce and stop completely by autumn.
13. When the stems and leaves are dry, remove the tubers from the pot and prepare for winter storage (described below).

Diseases and Pests

Garden buttercups – a decorative culture that is rarely exposed to disease and pest attacks while observing the correct watering regime. In waterlogged soil, flowers are sometimes at risk of exposure to powdery mildew and root rot. With the appearance of a whitish coating on the leaves and peduncles of the plant, it is necessary to begin urgent measures to protect the ranunculus from the spread of fungal disease.

Infected parts of the plant should be removed. To destroy the harmful mycelium of the fungus – the causative agent of powdery mildew – a fungicide such as “Topaz”, “Saprol”, “Fundazole” will help. An aqueous solution of the drug must be prepared according to the instructions set out on the packaging of the product. For those gardeners who do not accept the use of fungicides, there are folk remedies to combat a dangerous disease:

• Soap solution of soda ash. Dissolve 25 g of sodium carbonate in 5 liters of hot water with 5 g of any liquid soap. A cooled solution is sprayed with flowers and soil 2 times a day for a week.
• Soapy soda solution. 1 tbsp. spoon of soda pour 100 ml of boiling water. In 4 l of hot water dissolve 1 teaspoon of laundry soap chips. Add soda solution. Spray flowers 2 times a day for a week.

The fight against root rot involves loosening the soil around the flower, removing damaged parts of the plant. The surviving leaves and stems should be sprinkled with wood ash for disinfection. The aerial part of garden buttercups is sometimes damaged by cabbage butterflies, and the roots by nematodes. To repel pest attacks on flowers, it is necessary to treat the plants and the surface of the earth with insecticide solutions (Actellika, Karate, Nematofagin, etc.)

How to store tubers

In autumn, watering the flower garden is gradually stopped. Buttercups will begin to fade, and when they are completely dry, you can start digging tubers for winter storage. In different regions, the time for harvesting planting material of a perennial plant varies from September to the end of October. The main tuberous shoots for the season are overgrown with small tubers, children. This root system is incredibly fragile, therefore it requires extreme caution when digging. It is better to clean it from the ground by soaking in water – clods of the earth are easier to detach from the tubers.

The root system cleared of the soil needs to be divided. Baby tubers are disconnected from the main tuber. To disinfect the rupture site, planting material is placed in the Funzadol solution for half an hour. After this, lay the tubers on a cotton cloth in one layer and dry thoroughly in a ventilated room at an air temperature of 20 ° C. This process takes about 4 days. From time to time, the tubers need to be turned over so that the moisture evaporates completely.

The dried planting stock is stored in the winter in the basement at a temperature of + 4–7 ° C or in the refrigerator door, pre-wrapped in paper or laid in cloth bags. Small baby tubers are best stored in a box with sawdust or dry sand so that they do not dry out. Some gardeners believe that buttercups grown from harvested tubers are not as good as their predecessors. They do not dig out planting material, and in the spring they buy tubers of an annual culture – Asian buttercup.