Ranunculus, Peonies, Sweet Peas Oh MY! Why You Need To Grow These

Spring flowers in general are just the best! Ranunculus, peonies and sweet peas are exceptional and on my “Forever Must Grow” list. Ranunculus are special for their long vase life and tightly packed petals.  Peonies are special for their fragrance and their monster sized blooms.  Sweet peas are special for their whimsical vines, ruffly blooms and incredible fragrance.

Would you love to grow these beauties as well?  I’d love to share with you a few simple tricks to become a master in no time! 

Ranunculus

While it’s quite odd to receive these dried up octopus things, they turn into the incredible blooms you see me share each spring!

If you live in zone 7 and up, it is advised to plant them in the fall to give their roots time to establish in the cool weather so they can quickly spring into action as the weather begins to warm.  However if you live in a cooler zone it is still possible to grow ranunculus, you just want to start them in the late winter instead of the fall.  

They are technically hardy uncovered down to 28 degrees, but mine have survived temperatures a few degrees cooler.

If you don’t have a commercial sized high tunnel, you can still grow ranunculus!  I grow using low tunnels, also called caterpillar tunnels.  To make a low tunnel, you need frost cloth (I buy mine from Johnnys Seed) or 6 mil plastic, 2’ rebar stakes, and 10’ pvc. Hammer the 2’ stakes half way into the ground on the edge of your 4’ bed. Then take your pvc pipe and bend it to make an upside down U shape and slide the pvc over the rebar stakes.  Do this every 5’ or so then cover them when your temperatures are forecasted to drop below 28 degrees. If you only have a few plants, you can put them in pots and bring them into your garage on cold nights.  

Ranunculus take roughly 90 days to bloom and they start to go dormant when your temperatures are in the 80s consistently.  So you want to make sure that you start them early enough in the season to enjoy them! 

To get them started, soak them for 3-4 hours to help them rehydrate.

Once soaked, they can either be planted directly in ground or pre sprouted (meaning planted into seed starting trays temporarily).  I plant mine directly in ground in October, but my November and February succession get pre sprouted.  I found that when I planted directly in the ground later in the year, I lost some corms to rot because they took too long to wake up and were wet for too long without a root system to soak up the water.

To presprout, after soaking your corms, place them into seed starting bottom trays with a light layer of soil covering them and have them in an environment around the 50s (my garage works perfectly). They will take 10-20 days to form roots and sprout above the soil.  At that time you can plant them out in the garden!

Peonies

Need I say more? Peonies are one of the most readily recognized flowers by anyone (second only to roses).  The best part about peonies is that they are pretty darn easy to grow! Well, okay the best part is their breathtaking blooms, but the easy to grow part is pretty great too!  

As long as you live in a climate that gets decently cold in the winter (zone 9 and below), peonies will be happy to grow in your yard and will only get better with time, gracing you with loads of softball sized blooms. When you receive a bare root, they look kind of like ugly sweet potatoes with little pink buds (these are called the eyes).  

The eyes are what determines the size of the root.  You’ll see roots advertised as 2/3 eye, 3/5 eye, or 5/7 eye most commonly.  This basically refers to the maturity of the root and how quickly it will develop and give you those dreamy blooms you’re looking for. Generally speaking, If you purchase a 3/5 eye root, you will get 0-1 blooms year one.  If you purchase a 5/7 eye you will get 1-2 blooms year one. 

If you want to speed up the process of getting tons of blooms per plant, you can pinch off the pea sized flower bud in the first and second year.  By doing this you forfeit blooms for that year but will be paid in more blooms the following year.  When you don’t allow your peony to flower, your plant will focus on root development and it will be bursting with blooms in year 3.  This is not a mandatory practice though.  You are welcome to let it bloom year one and admire those beauties!

Make sure when planting your peonies that you choose a sunny location with good drainage throughout the whole year.  Peonies like plenty of water (even in the summer months when it's just foliage), but they don’t like standing water around them. 

Plant them shallow.  They will not come up if planted too deep.  You want the eyes to be 2” below the soil surface.

While few pests bother peonies, it is common to see ants on your peony buds.  They do no harm! They just like the sticky sap peonies produce on their buds.  You can simply rinse them off with water or gently flick them off if it is time to harvest and they're still there (most often they are gone by that time though).

Peonies are susceptible to fungal diseases.  It is best practice to spray with a fungicide (I choose organic) several times throughout the early season.  I spray biweekly for a few months and rotate between 2-3 types (copper fungicide, regalia, and neem oil).  By rotating fungicides, you help to avoid resistance to the treatment. 

If you are growing them in your garden for pleasure, offer them support in the form of a peony ring or tomato cage as the massive blooms are so heavy that when they are fully open, they will faceplant into the dirt- not a pretty sight! If you are growing them with the plan to harvest the blooms, there’s no need to support them as you will be harvesting them once they reach the “marshmallow” stage (when the bud is soft to the touch like a marshmallow), so it's unlikely they’ll flop. 

Sweet Peas

These beauties bring such whimsy and fragrance to your garden.  Their twisting vines grow without abandon, scurrying up the structure you plant them under.  Their ruffly blooms are full of fragrance.  They're such a delight to bring inside to enjoy! 

They’re pretty simple to grow too!  Make sure you offer them a structure with plenty of support (I use hortonova netting pulled nice and tight or square hog panel fencing as their support structure to climb.  They can grow 6-8’ high without much trouble so make sure they have plenty of vertical room.

They’re tough little flowers, not batting an eye at soft freezes and maintaining their hardiness down to the mid to low 20s if they've had enough time to establish a good root system before the freeze occurs.  If you live in a warmer climate, fall planting gets you a head start to earlier blooms!  No need to worry if you’re in a cooler climate though, these babies grow pretty fast, so a late winter sowing will still give you tons of spring blooms!

Pests that plague these guys are slugs, aphids, and thrips primarily.  So be on the lookout for these guys and respond quickly when you find them.  I choose organic pest control and focus on predator releases rather than spraying so that I don’t harm “the good guys” in the process of getting rid of “the bad guys.” (feel free to message me if you’re interested in my pest management practices, I created a guide explaining what I do!)

We will be offering these three varieties in our fall sale, so be on the lookout for more news if you want to try these for yourself!

I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about these incredible flowers!

Shelby