Ranunculus asiaticus Romance Montenvers® - Persian buttercup

Romance™ Montenvers® is a florist's ranunculus of rare elegance, sought after for its large white flowers revealing a tender green heart when open. This luminous variety brings freshness to spring borders, pots and especially cut flower arrangements. Its white colouring is easy to combine in floral displays.

This variety belongs to the family of Ranunculaceae. The species Ranunculus asiaticus, the Asian buttercup, florist's ranunculus, garden ranunculus or Oriental ranunculus, is a tuberous perennial with low hardiness that goes dormant after flowering. In the wild, it is found from the southern Aegean to western and southwestern Iran, in regions with mild winters and dry summers, on well-drained soils.

Romance™ Montenvers® is a cultivar obtained by the Japanese breeder Aya Engei. The Romance™ series, developed for cut flowers, brings together ranunculus with very large double flowers and long, sturdy stems that hold well in a vase. They are easily "forced" in a greenhouse to flower early. Montenvers® develops in a few weeks a clump of deeply cut, bright green basal leaves, flexible but quite thick. The foliage is deciduous: it dries after flowering, when the plant goes dormant. In flower, in the garden, this ranunculus reaches 45 to 60 cm in height, and about 20 to 25 cm in spread. The flower stems are long, firm and very straight. Flowering occurs in spring, from March to May, earlier in mild climates or under cover. The round flowers are very double and formed of many fine, tight petals. Their diameter is around 7 to 9 cm in the garden. Their colour is pure white to ivory white, with a tender green heart clearly visible on the flowers when they open. The Asian ranunculus is frost-tender: its crown withstands -5 °C at peak in very well-drained soil. You can dig up the tubers in autumn, before frosts, as you would for gladiolus bulbs and replant them in pots or in the garden in spring.

In the garden, Romance™ Montenvers® is lovely in a spring border or placed in a large pot on the terrace. It can also be planted in rows in a small cutting garden. You can grow it with Orlaya grandiflora for its white lace-like umbels and Moluccella laevis ‘Bells of Ireland’, for its almond-green bells and its good presence in cut flower arrangements. The viridiflora tulip ‘Spring Green’ will accompany them very naturally, in the same fresh spirit, like the lily-flowered tulip ‘White Triumphator’, white and graceful. To compose a soft ranunculus cut flower arrangement, combine Montenvers® with the pink double Asian ranunculus.