Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: mark smyth on March 23, 2007, 09:28:17 PM
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here are a few Ranunculus ficaria for those who like them
'Bantam's Egg' a tiny plant with full sized flowers
one of the 'Creams'
'Collarette'
'Green Petal'
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Hi Mark ,
Thank you for this nice pictures .
I have written to you before some days ( 15. March ) a mail with my wishes and my offer for a swap - but you never give me a answer .
Have you not received my mail ?
Greetings
Hans
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I'm starting to find some interesting Ranunc. ficaria seedlings around the garden from the cultivated forms ('cos I never manage to get all the seed pods off before they shed!)
Today I spotted a nice cream-flowered one with blue backs to the petals, and a good cream-flowered one with bronze-brown foliage like Brazen Hussy (which it may be a seedling from) which is a nice contrast.
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Just back from England. Hans I will resend the email. Martin can we see photos of your seedlings? I have one which will not photograph. The leaves are almost true black which shine purple in sunlight an effect seen on Rook feathers
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Mark, I'll post a photo or two when Ivi gets back with the camera later today. She and the camera (and boy offspring) have been away for the weekend.
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Just a comment
How come they started doing breeding with what is almost considered a weed (atleast in Sweeden)?!
I agree that the plants are intesting and nice but I am stll curios why someone started with it.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Breeding with Ranunculus ficaria probably started BECAUSE it is weedy (let's say EASY TO GROW), beautiful and exhibits a fair amount of natural variation (see posts above) that results in clones that are interesting in their own right.
Carlo
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....but I am stll curios why someone started with it.
Joakim :
As we in Germany say : "Wat dem en sin Uhl is dem annan sin Nachtigal"
It means : "What for one is a owl is for the other a nigthingale"
Greetings
Hans
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Joakim, I don't think anyone has actually bred Ranunculus ficaria. The cultivated forms are just selected forms discovered mostly in the wild - especially double-flowered forms and forms with attractive dark leaves or nicely marked leaves.
The problem is, as you say, that they can be quite 'weedy' plants, spreading fast by seed and tiny tubers. Even the selected forms seed, as can some of the doubles. And a lot of the seedlings are 'ordinary' R. ficaria.
Personally, I love even the ordinary form. But they can be a real problem in the garden. I try to pull the seed heads off, but always miss some.
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Thanks for the information.
We have some (of the ordinary form) and it in a part where they can be but when planting anything else there they are just dug up with out any mercy but there more there so they are never even close to extinction.
Martin I bet You are glad that some seedheads where missed as it resulted in the above mentioned seedling.
Do You grow them in a container in the ground to minimy the spread or are You just happy it spread and let it do so?
Maybe this is similar as with the wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa, that is borderline on a weed but have nice cultivar forms. We have both wild forms and bought cultivars, so who knows maybe one day we will look for nice cultivars of R. ficara to plant in the garden aswell?!
I did not mean/meen to put the R.ficaria down, I were just interested why it stared and now I know! Thanks :)
Kind regards
Joakim
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Joakim, it's okay, I agree with you, Ranunculus ficaria can become a real problem. I like to see the flowers (so cheerful in the early spring) but the plants get everywhere and are impossible to weed out without leaving some tiny bulbils behind to grow again! I love it and I also hate it! It's a bit like dandelion, a beautiful flower but I don't want a garden full of it. :)
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Mark, here are pics of some of my cream-flowered R. ficaria seedlings with dark leaves:
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Very nice Martin.
I have a seedling also with nicely marked backs of the petals. I've emailed the National Collection holder to see what he says. It could be seen often
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Mark, here's the blue tint I get on the backs of my cream Ranunc. ficaria seedlings. I like it - a nice combination with the cream.
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And here's a double-flowered form, it may be one of the doubles I've bought over the years or a seedling from them. I'll have to dig deeper for a label - couldn't find one with just my finger-tips today.
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Mark, it's afwully lonely in this Ranunc. ficaria thread! I get the impression our interest in celandines leaves most forumists even colder than the white fever does? Only to be expected I suppose, discussing 'weeds' in an alpine forum! :)
That green shading on the back of the yellow petals is nice.
Maybe I should try some deliberate crosses. O dear God, no! Not another breeding programme! I'm already being tempted into ipheon crosses. With the snowdrops and hellebores (not to mention a few forays into narcissus) I'm already overflowing with pots and labels.
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I'm watching this thread with interest. Unfortunatelly I dont grow any interesting forms yet. The woods around my city seem to be filled with un-interesting ficarias. No doubles, no shades, ... just plain 'small lettuce' as we call them here, used for soups and stews.
Razvan
ps. a breeding program would be very interesting with these plants.
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Razvan, I didn't know that the leaves of Ranunculus ficaria are edible. That's interesting. Do you know what they taste like? I guess I could try them myself. Must they be cooked or can they also be eaten raw?
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Here's a link to a plant database website with info about how edible lesser celandines are. There are issues with toxicity, so care needs to be taken. Not sure if I'll be trying them! ???
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Ranunculus+ficaria
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According to the website, as well as being edible at the right stage of growth, lesser celandines are also good for treating piles and cleaning your teeth (though presumably with separate bunches) ;D
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We commonly use them in soups and as a spinach substitute in early spring. Popular wisdom says one should consume them only till flowering. On the plants of the future website I see they say that plants build up toxins as fruit mature.
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Soooooo, you can EAT them.... okay, now you've got my attention! :P
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Martin I do hope my commemt about ALMOST weed on the standard yellow has not stopped anyone from posting.
I can say that there is an increased interest for this plants in Sweden even though not many cultivar is out there yet. Or atleast that is what I belive. England/UK seems to be the hotspot for there ones.
Regarding breeding why not just takes picks on mother and father (and polinate them) but let nature take care of soing the seeds and bringing the seedlngs up. Just mark the flower that You polinated with a string so that You know not to take the seedhead of. That would give seedings that are vigorous enough to take care of them self and hopfully less trouble for You. Maybe it would take a bit longer for the plants to bloom and maybe there would be less control but maybe that would work as a less space demanding version of breeding.
I will take the oportunity when I have it to inspect if there is somethin interesting with the ones we have.
Hope to see more pics of these little darlings.
Kind regards
Joakim
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No, Joakim, I'm sure you have not put anyone off posting about the celandines. They can be rather a 'weedy' type of plant, and many gardeners here are wary of putting them in the garden in case they get out of control (which they can do, especially if space is limited).
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I think there's a lot to be said for plants which are easy to grow and tough and look jolly at this time of year. I grow several different sorts and wouldn't be without them. I have very little problems with them seeding (these could be famous last words I know) but look forward to them coming through early in the year and then flowering for weeks.
I just don't like the orange ones - spoils a perfectly good flower, and double orange ones are awful. Double yellow and cream are fine and I really enjoy 'Green Petal' and wish mine would flower more.
Takes all sorts I suppose!
Sue
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Plant snobbery, Martin.
Using them to treat Piles goes back to Medievil/Middle Age times. They cured Piles vecause they look like Piles. Not that I have ever seen any.
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I understand they're quite difficult to see, Mark (if they're your own, and you don't have a mirror handy) ;D
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Could the plant snobbery have come with the native plant being more available and then not so interested for the upper clases (in the early days) and that that somehow got stuck.
The galanthus where around the estates and it is not that native in UK atleast not that many forms that exists today.
Primula veris and vulgaris are more common and hence "common" where as the auriculas were imported atleast in UK and hence a rarety to be adored and breed.
The native plants generally thrive well and can be almost a weed so there is some point in the causion.
Maybe I am reading to much into "common plants" but it was a interesting thought (maybe totally wrong) how older times can influence what is interesting plants today.
Sorry for going slightly a strey but there have not been any pictures to adore for a while in this thread.
Joakim
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Joakim,
One mans weed is another mans treasure. You commented that Hepaticas were nearly a weed...... here in Australia they're rare as hens teeth. LOL
As to the R. ficaria.... I have a small collection of them but knowing me I will add more as I can find them! I collect far too many things, as most of the regulars here would know. I might have been absent from here for a few months but it hasn't stopped my collecting addiction! (as if it COULD be stopped! <grin>)
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Paul
If I ever call hepatica a weed smack me !!.
I said ranunculus ficara and anemone nemorosa is almost a weed.
Per Åke mensioned that some Sweds think that hepatica is more of comon "wild wood plant" and hence would not actively take it into the garden.
There are a places with thousends of hepaticas blooming and it is a wonderfull sight. If one have them close by maybe one does not want to have them in the garden aswell. I am not THAT one, I want them even if it also exist 20-30 minutes walk from us.
Wellcome back by the way
Joakim
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Joakim,
Yep, I really must apologise. I must have been having a seniors moment and inserted Hepatica mentally when you wrote Anemone nemorosa. <sigh> Maybe I should just keep quiet! LOL
Apologies for the mortal insult! <grin> I HAVE heard mention that Hepaticas are weeds in some parts of the world..... which is understandable when they can grow in the thousands. A kind of nice weed though!!! LOL I covet them very much, but am trying not to go for the Ranunculus ficaria in the same enthusiasm. Unfortunately Mark's lovely pics make it very hard to resist.
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Here some more pictures taken today
1 Ranunculus ficaria Double Mud
2 Ranunculus ficaria Dusky Maiden
3 Ranunculus ficaria E A bowles
4 Ranunculus ficaria var aurantiacus
5 Ranunculus ficaria Salmons White
Henk Westerhof
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someone in NL sells Ranunculus ficaria? Thanks for the photos. How white is the white one?
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Dear Mark
How many do you want?
Ranunculus ficaria Salmons White is nearly white, very soft yellow it looks nearly white.
Henk Westerhof
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Wow I have never seen so many
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That display looks like the array or the common Lesser Celandine which can very quickly infest a damp side of my garden where they require regular removal.
On a related note: a friend just returned from a few days around the UK reported seeing Ranunculus ficaria 'Brazen Hussey' selling at £7 each!
Wow, I should start potting up my self-sown seedlings and make a fortune instead of throwing them into the compost bin.
Paddy
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A Ranunculus ficaria with a bronze shade to the flowers, no name applied.
Paddy
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thats an unusual colour. Is it a seedling or did you buy it? Can you take a close up tomorrow please
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Mark,
This is a seedling in the garden. The only named variety I grow is R. 'Brazen Hussey'. However, I have absolutely plenty of the native form.
Paddy
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Two in a comparison shot, R. 'Fried Egg' (left) and R. 'Bantams Egg' which looks slightly more yellow than Mark's at the start of this thread.
[attachthumb=1]
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Mark,
A close up of that bronze-coloured celandine.
Paddy
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very nice
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who emailed me for R. ficaria tubers? I know I kept the email but dont know who to look for
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sorted.
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Sorry for bringing an old thread alive again from the dead but I do not have enough to start a new thread.
Mark how did it grow with the green backed ficaria?
I found that this year is a good year for R. ficaria.
They are growing so well that they have to be controlled.
I have only the natural occurring ones but saw that some had interesting?! foliage.
Is this due to damage or does often happen.
I also saw the ones with green on the back.
I do not know if this is common or not.
I presume that this will not be my retiering so have to wait to flip the boss of and wait to look for a island to buy. After all even if they would be interesting they do not have snowdrop prices. :)
Kind regards
Joakim
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Hello Joakim, thanks for reviving this thread, I am one of those unwise enough to take an interest in Ranunculus ficaria but they do look great in the garden at the moment with Anemone nemerosa forms.
Looking back to the post from Martin (on 23rd March 2007!) I think this find is rather like the plant that I named for my daughter, Deborah Jope, about twenty years ago. I deliberately planted Salmons White next to Brazen Hussey and it wasnt long before seedlings from both parents cropped up so it was the best of these that I named. Incidently there are photos of plants incorrectly named on offer on the internet so I have dropped an email to the nursery advising them. You can see the correct plant on Marks website.
I have also just gone into the garden to photo the correct plant.
All this in the past hour after deciding to have a quick look at the forum!
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My Ranunculus ficaria 'Brazen Hussy' are starting to bloom as we type. As the patches expand they will mesh with Narcissus 'Rip Van Winkle'. How's that for an unlikely couple. Both good in a bed!
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Joakim these days a celandine really needs to stand out to be different. There are many with mottled leaves. I know of one person trying to breed a double white with 'black' leaves
http://www.marksgardenplants.com/ranunculus_ficaria.htm (http://www.marksgardenplants.com/ranunculus_ficaria.htm)
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Thanks for the replies.
I was wondering if the coloring is natural or if it is due to some damage.
Most of them are now in heaven since they were in a bed where they did outgrow the others.
On other places they are free to roam.
The much nicer cultivars is an other story and I presume they make their space even in beds. ::)
I did not have anything of breeding material so that is why I was so surprised.
They do not hold a candle to the nice one mark showed. :) Those would have been allowed to stay for sure :)
Hope more will post their pics of some nice cultivars :)
Kind regards
Joakim
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Nice collection of forms Mark. Are you growing them all or is this a collection of pictures taken on your garden visits?
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All mine Carlo but a wood pigeon ate too many last year
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Send it over here; it can eat my Randalls White; lovley but seeding...... :-\
Gerry
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Would one of the experts please confirm whether this is Lesser Celandine - just the common one. Some pictures I've found online have perfect heart shaped leaves and some have wavy heart shaped leaves like the ones I have found - which is correct or are both Lesser Celandine. Flower bashed as brought home in pocket;-)
(http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e261/m223/Others/IM000944yellowflowerandleaf144.jpg)
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Looks correct to me. The leaves are very variable
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ah! Thanks Mark :-)
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Brazen Hussey and Rip van Winkle? Seems the lady's doomed to be disappointed. :)
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Many of my plants are suffereing from rot where the stems go underground. Many havent come up which is quite strange. No Coppernob :'( no Orange Sorbet :'( Green Petal :'( Yaffle :'( Bantan's Egg :'( Holly Leaf :'( and the list goes on.
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some Ran. ficaria today, unfortunately without name.
Regards; Wolfgang
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Wolfgang your photos show flore plena, flore plena, Collarette. Double cream I do not know
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I have a good seedling.
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Hello Mark,
thanks for the PM and for the names of the Ran. ficaria.
Wolfgang