how octopi test a relationship
Good Morning Friend,
Ranunculus are amazing flowers – they are so beautiful, they may last longer than any other cut flower, and come in the very best colors. And they come at a time when we desperately need beautiful blooms - right after spring bulbs like tulips and daffodils are done and before any other summer annuals start.
But that isn’t enough to get us to fall in love with a flower. There has to be more. Especially when that flower is expensive, makes people jump through hoop after hoop to start, and is a full time job to keep safe from the time it gets into the ground until harvest.
To know us is to know we love marine life! The animals of the sea, particularly whales and sharks have had my heart since I was in elementary school. Some kids like dinosaurs. Dinos are cool but the here and now is cooler and whales are here now! Plus, they live in my favorite place – the sea! And they get to swim all the time, can you even imagine?!?
Dave loved The Beatles the way that some kids love animals, but he has come around to sea creatures and now his love rivals mine. Of course, he has melded music and marine life, writing Squid and Sally Sea Anemone – both stellar sea creature songs.
Here is the thing about ranunculus: their corms (their roots that you plant out) look like little octopi type creatures. They are SO freaking weird and cute. Check it out.
Another thing I love is a ritual and these babies bring it. Y’all, you need to soak the little octopi/corms in running water for 4 hours to get them hydrated to even start their growing process! Then, they are tucked into damp dirt to pre-sprout.
Please don’t allow them to confuse you.
They are not being planted. They are being pre-spouted.
We lay them in flat trays between layers of dirt and put them into a closet for a couple weeks for them to wake up.
THEN we can actually plant them, put them under lights, and let them start growing. I think all that is nice and cute. Then things take a turn. They need to go outside.
They go out early. For us, we like to have them out when April starts. This means tucking them into a caterpillar tunnel. So we need to put up a caterpillar tunnel. It doesn’t take long, maybe a half hour. But anyone who has done it can tell you it is a relationship tester. Never, ever, ever do it hungry. I truly believe that is worse than doing it on a windy day.
I have to say planting them into the ground feels amazing and I could cry right now thinking about how wonderful it feels to be planting the first few (lol, 500) plants into the ground.
Once they are in, we make sure to open the tunnel every morning and close it every night so they don’t get too hot or too cold. It is a nice, loving practice and I am mostly happy to do it.
I think the very worst thing about ranunculus is how much aphids love them. No, the worst thing is how much aphids love them and that they are growing when it is too cold for aphid predators to live and hunt them. I will spare you the details but it is a constant battle.
But they are stunning and it is all so worth it. SO worth it. We harvest them in soft bud stage and they unfurl and last at least two weeks. Another thing I love about them is how stinking cute they look alone, unencumbered by filler. Throw a couple in a bud vase and it looks so gorgeous and intentional. But really it is just the ranuncs doing their thing. And I am happy to let them.
We do our absolute best to keep those aphids at bay but please, please, please give me a break if there is an aphid or two or even three on your ranunculus. Just blast the flowers in the sink with the sprayer and it will be fine. No sprayer? Dunk the whole flower and swish it around. See, I am already back to thinking of water... Sink sprayer? It is practically sea spray!
I basically need to know your favorite sea animals. Let me know.
Take care,
Renée