I was BEYOND excited for these! As a florist freelancer, wedding photographer, and all around garden enthusiast, butterfly ranunculus are the premier favorite for my lil home bouquets. I literally GASPED out loud when I saw the varieties Eden Brothers was offering. Unfortunately, these performed horribly this year. I had purchased and grown butterfly ranuncs successfully last year, and my process was more or less the same. Pre-soak, pre-sprout, plant outside but protect during the cold snaps or wind (zone 6, very wet winter/springs, hot & fast summer.) Though I had leafage, these never made it to flower, and had about a 70% germination rate. Likewise, the anemones I ordered had a very poor sprout rate. Again, I've grown both of these before successfully. Unfortunately, I really think the shipping dates are just not universal as they'd hoped. Presporuting is pretty much needed in our zone, and with a 90-day sprout-to-bloom time, early to mid-April just doesn't cut it. By July, our temperatures are far too hot for these. Super disappointing :(
Ranunculus Bulbs - Butterfly Ariadne®
Store owner replied: Hello LittleCatLittleBean. Thank you for your review. We're sorry to hear that your butterfly ranunculus didn't perform as you had hoped, especially given your previous success growing them. We understand how disappointing that is when you were looking forward to adding them to your bouquets. Butterfly ranunculus generally perform best in cool, mild conditions, and in Zone 6, timing can be especially important. While pre-soaking and pre-sprouting are excellent practices, prolonged wet conditions during establishment followed by a rapid transition to summer heat can shorten the growing season before the plants have a chance to bloom. For the best results, many gardeners aim to give ranunculus as long a cool growing period as possible before temperatures begin to climb. Based on feedback from gardeners like you, we've made a change this season. All of our ranunculus corms will now ship in the fall, allowing customers in colder regions to store them until they're ready to pre-sprout and plant at the ideal time for their local climate, giving them the longest possible cool growing season. We previously reached out with additional information and offered a resolution but have not yet heard back. If you'd still like assistance, please reply directly to our email, and we'd be happy to continue helping you. At Eden Brothers, we stand behind our products and are committed to helping our gardeners achieve success!
