Friday, March 26, 2010

Flower Friday: Ranunculus



Today's featured flower: Ranunculus!  These bright, profusely-petaled flowers bloom in a huge variety of vibrant colors.  Ranuculus are related to buttercups, and they are very easy to plant and maintain.  They bloom in cool weather but the tubers don't always survive harsh frosts or very damp soil, so if you live in a particularly wet region (like we do) you may want to plant them in early spring rather than in the autumn.  They have fern-like, lacy foliage, and make wonderful cut flowers.  I recently read that a bouquet of  ranunculus was thought to mean "I am dazzled by your charms" in the Victorian language of flowers, so consider giving a bouquet of these pretty flowers to someone you find irresistibly charming.  You can learn more about ranunculus on the National Gardening Association's ranunculus page, Wayne Schmidt's ranunculus page, or Garden Post's ranunculus page.


Blog note:  It is spring break here and my best friend (who recently moved to the opposite side of the country) flew out to stay with us this week.  Visiting with her and hanging out at the beach have taken priority over computer time this week, but reading, reviewing, and blogging should be back on track by Monday.  In the meantime, here is a little slideshow of some photos we took at the tide pools this week:




1 comment:

Cranberryfries said...

Happy Spring break and hizah for having your friend back in town. That is awesome!! Can't wait to hear about your week and all the fun stuff you guys get to go do.

(PS you've been tagged on my blog)